Play Beautiful Music With Martin Acoustic Guitars
Guitars from the Martin 15 Series are crafted from solid mahogany for a rich appearance and warm tone. The Martin Retro Series uses the Fishman Aura tonal modeling system to capture the sound of. Martin & Company is a US guitar manufacturer established in 1833 by Christian Frederick Martin. Martin is highly. Sections of this page. CEO at Martin & Co. Chris is taking us through some of the new guitars from Martin for 2011.
For over 184 years, C.F. Martin and Company has set industry standards by making acoustic guitars and guitar strings. All the guitars are handmade, and the craftspeople use original techniques created by the company's founder to build guitars. Countless artists have played Martin guitars in various genres of music, including classical, acoustic rock, folk, and country.
What guitar models are made by C.F. Martin and Company?C.F. Martin and Company created the dreadnought-style acoustic guitar in 1916, and it is one of the most-recognizable models made by the brand. The body of a dreadnought is larger than the body of other types of acoustic guitars, which gives it a richer and louder tone. The top and the bottom of the body are flat, and the neck is connected to the body at the 14th fret instead of the usual 12th fret. Martin's line of dreadnoughts is known as D-sized guitars.
Other used Martin guitar models available on eBay include:
- Custom D Classic Mahogany Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar
- Road Series GPCRSGT Electric Acoustic Natural
- Little Martin LXM Acoustic Guitar 11lxm
- Martin D Jr. 2 Sapele Dreadnought Junior Acoustic Guitar
Since 1833, the company has manufactured hundreds of different guitar models. Many have become valuable collector's items. Typically, model designations start with a letter and/or number to indicate the guitar size. This is followed by a dash and then a number, which designates the ornamentation and type of materials used to construct the instrument. For example, a Martin D-28 means the guitar is a dreadnought, and the 28 refers to the materials used to make this instrument. Some of the materials used to make Martin guitars include:
- Spruce for the top of the body
- Rosewood for the back and sides of the body
- Mahogony for the neck
- Ebony for the bridge and fretboard
In 1833, German immigrant Christian Frederick Martin founded C.F. Martin and Company in New York City. He relocated the company's headquarters to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, in 1839. C.F. Martin came from a long line of cabinet makers in Germany, but when he was 15 years old, he took an apprenticeship in making guitars. When his apprenticeship was completed, he opened his own guitar shop in Germany but later decided to move to the United States. For generations, the Martin family has produced the iconic acoustic guitar that has been played by some of the most influential musicians in music.
Are there any famous musicians who have played Martin guitars?Some of the biggest names in pop music have played Martin acoustic guitars. These names include Elvis Presley, Keith Richards, and Bob Dylan. The company has an ambassador program that features artists who play and promote Martin guitars. Other famous musicians who have played the guitar include Ed Sheeran, Dierks Bentley, and Mac Powell.
Content provided for informational purposes only. eBay is not affiliated with or endorsed by C.F. Martin and Company.So you need to figure out the date of your Martin guitar. It's actually a lot easier than you may think. Unlike the nebulous web of varying schemes and numbering systems used by companies like Gibson over the decades, Martin has employed a single string of serial numbers for a vast majority of its guitars going all the way back to 1898. This means that just using the serial number of your Martin will give a very accurate date of when the guitar left the line.
The Martin serial number sequence starts at 8348 which is how many guitars the firm had estimated it had produced from its inception to when they started the serial sequence at the end of the 19th century. Martin has kept meticulous records of the serial number of last guitar produced each year, so finding the year of production by serial number is as simple as finding the range it falls into the chart below.
Finding the Serial Number on Your Martin
In a vast majority of cases, the serial number on a Martin guitar can be found inside the body near the neck joint. This can be seen by looking through the soundhole on the guitar towards the front of the instrument. It can be a little dark in there, so you may need to use a flashlight (or the glow of smartphone) to read each digit. There are other instances where you may find the serial number of any extant paperwork that came with the instrument.
Here's the breakdown of Martin serial numbers covering over a century of guitar production. Just see where your serial fits in, and you'll have the year:
Last Serial Number | Year |
8348 | 1898 |
8716 | 1899 |
9128 | 1900 |
9310 | 1901 |
9528 | 1902 |
9810 | 1903 |
9988 | 1904 |
10120 | 1905 |
10329 | 1906 |
10727 | 1907 |
10883 | 1908 |
11018 | 1909 |
11203 | 1910 |
11413 | 1911 |
11565 | 1912 |
11821 | 1913 |
12047 | 1914 |
12209 | 1915 |
12390 | 1916 |
12988 | 1917 |
13450 | 1918 |
14512 | 1919 |
15848 | 1920 |
16758 | 1921 |
17839 | 1922 |
19891 | 1923 |
22008 | 1924 |
24116 | 1925 |
28689 | 1926 |
34435 | 1927 |
37568 | 1928 |
40843 | 1929 |
45317 | 1930 |
49589 | 1931 |
52590 | 1932 |
55084 | 1933 |
58679 | 1934 |
61947 | 1935 |
65176 | 1936 |
68865 | 1937 |
71866 | 1938 |
74061 | 1939 |
76734 | 1940 |
80013 | 1941 |
83107 | 1942 |
86724 | 1943 |
90149 | 1944 |
93623 | 1945 |
98158 | 1946 |
103468 | 1947 |
108269 | 1948 |
112961 | 1949 |
117961 | 1950 |
122799 | 1951 |
128436 | 1952 |
134501 | 1953 |
141345 | 1954 |
147328 | 1955 |
153225 | 1956 |
Last Serial Number | Year |
159061 | 1957 |
165576 | 1958 |
171047 | 1959 |
175689 | 1960 |
181297 | 1961 |
187384 | 1962 |
193327 | 1963 |
199626 | 1964 |
207030 | 1965 |
217215 | 1966 |
230095 | 1967 |
241925 | 1968 |
256003 | 1969 |
271633 | 1970 |
294270 | 1971 |
313302 | 1972 |
333873 | 1973 |
353387 | 1974 |
371828 | 1975 |
388800 | 1976 |
399625 | 1977 |
407800 | 1978 |
419900 | 1979 |
430300 | 1980 |
436474 | 1981 |
439627 | 1982 |
446101 | 1983 |
453300 | 1984 |
460575 | 1985 |
468175 | 1986 |
476216 | 1987 |
483952 | 1988 |
493279 | 1989 |
503309 | 1990 |
512487 | 1991 |
522655 | 1992 |
535223 | 1993 |
551696 | 1994 |
570434 | 1995 |
592930 | 1996 |
624799 | 1997 |
668796 | 1998 |
724077 | 1999 |
780500 | 2000 |
845644 | 2001 |
916759 | 2002 |
978706 | 2003 |
1042558 | 2004 |
1115862 | 2005 |
1197799 | 2006 |
1268091 | 2007 |
1337042 | 2008 |
1406715 | 2009 |
1473461 | 2010 |
1555767 | 2011 |
1656742 | 2012 |
1755536 | 2013 |
1857399 | 2014 |
Exceptions to the Above
There are a number of exceptions to the above. Most notably, Martin Mandolins from before 1991 use a different sequence than guitars. Additionally, the solidbody electrics like the E18 model from the '70s do not conform to the above. Numbers 900001 to 902908 were used by a short run of Sigma-made Martin models in the early '80s so don't not appear on Martin models.
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