Martin Guitar in the New York Times

The New York Times Feature on Martin Guitar

How Martin combines hand-worked craftsmanship and modern robotics to create “America’s guitar.”

There is a feature article in today’s New York Times, originally created for their kids supplement, that goes through the step-by-step process of making an acoustic guitar, at C. F. Martin & Co. in Nazareth, PA.  And it has some nicely composed photos to go with it.

The article on Martin Guitars is probably only available to subscribers. But if you are familiar with Martin and their factory, you probably already know everything mentioned.

How to Build a Guitar

The buffing machine pictured above sits right next to the Martin sound testing room where I make my annual guitar review videos. If you turn up the volume and listen closely when I am not playing a guitar, you can sometimes hear the buffer whirring away.

The More Times Change…

As I read this human interest piece, I was reminded me just how many things have changed since I first started visiting the Martin factory, when it comes to the automation. For example, there is a photo of a large side mending machine, where steam heat and high pressure bend the thin solid-wood plates into the shape needed to create guitars of different sizes. Each size has its own machine. Not long ago, that was all accomplished by hand, taking much longer to make a certain number of usable sides.

When I first toured the factory some twenty years ago, the sides for every guitar made at Martin was still being bent by the hands of a man using a curved electric iron (also invented and made at Martin.) He soak the wood in water before molding it on the hump of super-heated steel, holding it in place long enough to change its shape while being very careful not to scorch it. Before electricity, the humped irons would have been heated in burning coals. On my second visit, they had just invented (and made on site) the first experimental side bending machine, to make the Dreadnought size guitars. But all other sides were still bent by hand.

Later, only the sides requiring a “cutaway” on the treble side of a guitar were being bent by hand for guitars of common sizes. Today, that man and his side-bending counterparts have retired, and almost every Martin guitar made in Nazareth has its sides bent by a machine.

But while the article and photos focus on automation involved in guitar making in the twenty-first century, they also make clear how the actual construction of a guitar is done by human hands, the most important parts anyway. And it is enough so that Martin can proudly claim their guitars are still handmade.

C. F. Martin Sr. invented what is now considered the American guitar, at roughly the same time Antonio de Torres Jurado was working to develop what became the Spanish guitar. In fact, Martin developed what became the American acoustic guitar by combining luthiery techniques he learned in Vienna, Austria with elements of contemporary guitars from Spain that he encountered once he emigrated to America in 1833. By the early 1840s he had invented the X-bracing pattern to support the spruce soundboard, which turned out to be the ideal design for getting the most tone out of the steel guitar strings that came into use in the early twentieth century, decades after Mr. Martin died in 1872. But many of the techniques used by Martin craftspeople today would be familiar to old C. F. Sr.

A photo in the article shows a woman hand carving the braces that support the spruce soundboards. Another shows a collection of soundboards clipped to a large paddle wheel, as the glue binding the two halves together dries in the open air, before they have their bracing attached. Martin has two or three of those in-house invented paddle wheels, made of metal, with various adjustable joints. But it was only in the past decade that they retired the wooden paddle wheel invented in the 1800s.

While Martin and other guitar makers use modern technology to speed up the process, and save their workers from considerable repetitive stress wear and tear, the Martin guitars themselves are still made very much they were all along, from the hand-fitted dovetail neck joints to the hand-buffed nitrocellulose lacquer so thin it is measured in mils, that being one-thousandths of an inch.

This factory, one of the oldest family businesses in America and the oldest musical instrument maker, may produce upwards of 200 guitars a day in modern times, but it still takes a month more or less, to make one Martin guitar. And that is with all the mechanical streamlining.

As has been the case since before the America Civil War, an old Martin sales slogan remains true to this day. More people own or want to own a Martin than any other guitar in the world. And with good reason, too.

Review: Gibson J-15

Mellow walnut makes the Gibson J-15 one jovial jumbo

An environmentally friendly take on the classic J-45, the J-15 is a future-forward guitar

Specifications include: Standard Jumbo body size; solid walnut back and sides; solid Sitka spruce top with scalloped braces, Antique Natural toner, abalone sound hole rosette; two-piece solid maple neck with Slim Taper profile, dovetail neck joint fitted with hot hide glue; solid walnut fingerboard with 1.725” width at the Tusq nut, mother-of-pearl position markers; solid walnut slotted rectangular bridge with compensated Tusq saddle and decorative mother-of-pearl dots; antique ivoroid binding; nitrocellulose finish; gold Gibson headstock logo on black field faceplate; Grover Mini Rotomatic tuning machines

Read the Full J-15 Review Here

C. F. Martin IV Announces Retirement

Chris Martin Announces Retirement as C.E.O of Martin Guitars

Will remain as Chairman, following in the footsteps of his grandfather C.F. Martin III

Jackie Renner to retire as President

On July 16, C. F. Martin & Co. announced that an executive succession plan is being put in place for the
company. Christian Martin IV has decided that at the conclusion of his NAMM Chairmanship in July
2021, he will step into the role of Executive Chairman of C.F. Martin & Co. He will remain Chairman of
the Board and family ownership of the company will continue.

“I’ve spent over 40 years in my family business and what a ride it’s been,” said Chris Martin, Chairman
and CEO of C.F. Martin & Co., Inc. “Now I’ve reached the point where it’s time for me to move into the
role of Executive Chairman. I am confident in the current leadership team because I know they love the
company as much as I do and I will be working closely with them through this transition.”

Jacqueline Renner, President of C.F. Martin & Co. also announced her plans to retire on October 1, 2021.
She feels with Chris’ change, it is the right time for her to transition as well. She is committed to
working with Chris on a smooth executive transition process. “I have truly enjoyed working with Chris
and all our co-workers over the last five years to strengthen Martin Guitar. I look forward to continuing
to do so through the executive transition process. I appreciate Chris’ planned approach for a smooth
transition for the company which benefits our customers, co-workers and ultimately the musicians that
Martin Guitar seeks to inspire.”

“I am very grateful for the support and leadership that Jackie has shown as President over these past
five years.” said Chris.

Martin will be doing a search for a CEO-President who will embrace and augment our unique culture and
continue to enhance the Martin brand around the world. Hudson Gain Corporation has been retained to
conduct this search.

Chris Martin Retires Jackie Renner

Martins According to Spoon

T Spoon Phillips Talks Martins with Aaron Short

Two hour interview recorded June 12th, 2020

T Spoon Phillips – Music for a Socially Distant Audience – May 6

Live from Brooklyn, It’s T Spoon Phillips with his Martin Guitar

Edited for Length, and With a Bonus Song from the Afternoon Set

May 6, 2020

Every Wednesday, 8 PM Eastern Daylight Time on YouTube Live onemanzguitar channel.

With a run through at 3:30 PM for those across the sea (8:30 British Summer Time, 9:30 Central Europe Summer Time)

The Steeds of Culloden

On April 16, 1764, the Field of Culloden erupted

As a hoard of delusional Scotsmen charged, raving like mad badgers across an open, boggy terrain …

A tone poem by T Spoon Phillips

Dick Boak Interview – Aaron Short Music Hangout

Wonderfully entertaining and informative talk between Aaron Short and Dick Boak

Stories about great artists, guitar making, and of course Martin Guitars.

A great way to spend a Social Distancing day or night. All of 111 minutes in length, former Martin Guitar employee Dick Boak opens up about so many interesting topics.

I have had many sit down talks with Dick and always wished others could have been there. Well now you can be.

Distant Arts for Socially Distancing Audiences

Musicians, Comics, Writers, and Readers to Perform Social Distancing Show

I am organizing a collective of performing artists to stream live to a Facebook Group

Check back here for more information soon.

If you are interested in taking part, drop me a line. oneman@onemanz.com

I am expecting the new Group (not yet public) will work like a public access TV station, with a calendar that participating artists share and the collective “friends” of all the artists can visit the group to see Facebook Live streaming performances, typically up to 20 minutes in length.

But I also want to organize shows on specific evenings where a succession of artists take their turn doing a 20 minute set. This would be similar to some of the long-running avant garde variety shows I have taken part in here in NYC since the 1980s, like Dog & Pony NYC, and Blow Hole Theater.

Audience members will not need to have a Facebook account to visit the page and watch the performances. But they will need an account to leave comments or live emote reactions.

Spoon

 

Martin on the Martin SC-13E

Jason Ahner of Martin Guitars discuses their new SC-13E

As the NAMM Show opened in Anaheim, CA, Spoon Phillips sat down in the Martin Museum in Nazareth, PA to chat with Jason about their revolutionary new acoustic-electric guitar

Read Our Exclusive In Depth Review

Review: Martin SC-13E – Innovative New Design




Martin Wows NAMM with Ultramodern SC-13E

Ergonomic versatility in a beautiful, cutting edge acoustic-electric guitar

January 15, 2020

 

At three o’clock today, Pacific Standard Time, C. F. Martin & Co. unveiled to the public the SC-13E. With its innovative S size, deep angular Cutaway, and the attractive updated Style 13 appointments, this acoustic-Electric guitar introduces to the world the first new Martin-invented body design since 1934.

 

SC-13E specs include: New S body size with deep scoop cutaway; fine koa veneer back and sides over solid Khaya core; solid Sitka spruce top; unique asymmetrical bracing with partial scalloping; new heel-less Sure Align neck with new asymmetrical ergonomic Velocity profile; FSC Certified Richlite fingerboard with High Performance Taper; FSC Certified Richlite bridge with 2-5/32” string spacing; newly revised Road Series Style 13 appointments; faux tortoise teardrop pickguard; chrome open back tuners; Fishman XT electronics with onboard tuner.

 

Note: Specs based on final prototypes, subject to change between now and actual production models.

 

“Not your granddad’s Martin, the SC-13E is an ultramodern acoustic-electric guitar of tremendous versatility. Its ergonomic design is ideal for long term playing sessions and its innovative shape and bracing provide satisfying tonal balance, good for countless musical styles.”

 

READ THE FULL REVIEW

 

Martin SC-13E onemanz NAMM