The Guitarphile

This guitar is a “orange” top Martin 1-21 guitar from 1899. It is signed “H.A.V.” and dated “Jan. 16, 1899”. “H.A.V.” was  H. Alvin Voigt who worked for Martin from 1892 to 1901. The “orange” top finish is a result of Martin using unbleached shellac instead of bleached shellac. The guitar was stamped on January 12, […]

This guitar is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it is dated “April 7, 1896” under the top and is signed “FHM” (Frank Henry Martin). This is not unusual since most Martin guitars were dated from about 1885 and most were signed from around 1894 to 1916. However, Martin guitars from 1894 to 1896 […]

Serial number 68389 was stamped on November 19, 1937 and cleared final inspection on March 4, 1938. The tuners are Grover G-98 pointed plate machines with rounded un-seamed metal buttons.   Style 18 features: Back and sides: Mahogany Top: Red spruce (Adirondack) Purfling: Lines Binding: Tortoiseshell celluloid Back stripe: None Other period features: Scalloped advanced […]

Serial number 64161 is one of those rarely seen dark top D-18 guitars from 1936. It was stamped on August 19, 1936 and cleared final inspection on October 20 that year. The Martin records don’t state this guitar was made as a dark top but that is not very surprising since Martin didn’t always record […]

As known by many collectors and dealers, Martin allowed employees to make a guitar or other instrument for their own use using the company’s wood supply and machinery. The employee were allowed to buy the wood, tuners and other supplies at cost but were not to put a Martin stamp or decal on the instrument. […]

Only one batch of OM-28 guitars was made in 1933 and here is example. It is the 6th last OM-28 made. Serial number 54566 was stamped on October 18, 1933, was out of the finish shop by January 26, 1934 and cleared final inspection on March 21, 1934. (The previous batch was stamped on October […]

This 19th century Martin guitar is more than a little interesting. A Martin 2-40 guitar is a very scarce model. A total of only thirteen were made between 1863 and 1883. The ledger books are missing from 1884 to 1898 but it is known four were ordered by C. A. Zoebisch & Sons between 1892 […]

Serial number 75371 is an “ordinary” 1940 Martin D-28 but comes with an extraordinary provenance! The guitar was stamped on June 21, 1940 and cleared final inspection on October 22 that year. If, as mentioned below Blue Sky Boys were based in Atlanta then this might be the D-28 that was ordered by Cable Piano […]

I was contacted by the owner of this guitar who didn’t happen to mention it had a dark top. It is an early dark top 00-18 and only three were made in 1935. Serial number 59059 appears in the production records as a 1935 “00-18 “0” Model”. An “0 Model” in Martin parlance would normally […]