Serial number 90740 was stamped on March 5, 1945 and cleared final inspection on June 6 that year. Martin appears to have received a supply of steel T-bar in early 1945 so unlike most wr-time Martin guitars this one has the steel T-bar neck reinforcement rather than the ebony bar. The T-bar didn’t last for […]
Serial number 45317 was stamped on December 31, 1930 and cleared final inspection on February 21, 1931. Since it was made prior to March 1931 it retains the “small” pick guard and banjo tuners of the original OM guitars but has a belly bridge that became the norm in April 1930. Typical for style 28 […]
Serial number 43670 is a 1930 “small” pick guard OM-28 guitar. It was stamped on August 19, 1930 and cleared final inspection on October 15 that year. The small pick guard was used until replaced by the “large” pick guard in March 1931. The Pages banjo tuners appear to be replacements since as far as […]
This guitar is one of those rarely seen beasts, an early OM-28 with a pyramid bridge. The first belly bridges did not appear on the OM guitars until the end of the first week of April 1930. All of the OM-28 guitars to that point were equiped with a pyramid bridge, a total of 102 […]
Serial number 63489 was stamped on June 9, 1936 and cleared final inspection on October 8, that year. As an earlier 14-fret 000-28 this guitar has advance-X bracing, distinctive herringbone purfling around the top and a zig-zag backstripe. The tuners are Grover G-98 pointed plate machines with smooth-edged butterbean buttons. Back and sides: Brazilian rosewood […]
Serial number 59395 was stamped on March 19, 1935 and cleared final inspection on August 15 that year. Being an early D-28 it has advanced X-bracing and an 1-3/4″ wide neck (string specing at the bridge is 2-5/16″). Like all pre-war D-28 guitars, it has herringbone purfling around the top of the guitar and the […]
The guitar in this entry is a 1941 D-28 “herringbone”. It has rear-X bracing and the neck is 1-11/16″ wide at the nut. Typical of other D-28 guitars of the period is has the scalloped braces,”zig-zag” back stripe and the distinctive herringbone purfling. The tuners are period correct Kluson 511 machines. These early Klusons have […]