Martin Acoustic Guitars
C.F. Martin
Acoustic Guitars
When it comes to acoustic guitars, the C.F. Martin Company
is a standout. Established in 1833 by Christian Frederick Martin, the company
is renowned among players as a maker of high quality steel string acoustic
guitars. Martin’s main factory and
offices are located in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
History
Christian Martin was born to a long line of respected
European wood workers. By the age of fifteen, he had taken am apprenticeship
with well known luthier Johan Stauffer. He returned to his hometown of
Markneukirchen, Germany to open his own guitar shop.
At the time, European craftsmen were operating under the
Guild system. The Violin Makers Guild claimed exclusive rights to the making of
instruments, which rubbed the Cabinet Makers Guild the wrong way. In the midst
of the dispute, Martin decided the Guild system was too restrictive and brought
his craft to New York in 1833. Uneasy with life in a metropolis, the shop moved
in 1838 to it’s present day location in Nazareth, Pa.
Innovations
Somewhere in the 1850’s, Martin developed the X-bracing
system. This proved to be a major innovation as it pleased the ears of players
as well as added to the structural integrity of the instruments.
In the early 1900’s, the guitar gained in popularity. Many luthiers
answered this demand by stringing instruments with metal strings opposed to
catgut. Martin began to focus on this type of guitar in 1921.
The Great Depression had a drastic effect on sales and
Martin made some new advances to gain sales. This resulted in the 14-fret neck
design which had 14 frets clear of the body and was called the “OM” (orchestral
model) guitar. This marked the first alteration of a body design by Martin. The
design became wildly popular and was made a standard feature beginning in the
early 1930’s. Most other guitar makers soon followed suit and many still
replicate Martin’s best guitar “OM” styling today.
Another of Martin’s major innovations was the dreadnought
guitar somewhere between 1915 and 1930. With a larger, deeper body, the bass
tones were phenomenal and made it the best guitar for accompaniment. The
dreadnought was named after a British Royal Navy battleship of the same name.
This ship was the largest of it’s kind at the time, and so the tie in was
obvious.
The first dreadnoughts were actually fan braced and were
poorly received. So in 1931, Martin reinvented the dreadnought with the OM
design and X-bracing. This became their biggest seller.
Conclusion
With all of this experience, one can see why CF Martin would
be an excellent choice for a steel string acoustic guitar. Quality workmanship
coupled with roughly a 150 years of experience speaks for itself.
While producing a good instrument, the price tag is hefty as
well. New models can run anywhere from a few thousand dollars to more than
$100,000. Vintage models regularly fetch six figures when sold.