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Guitars – C.F. Martin & Co.
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If you are looking for unusual instruments to play or collect, keep an eye out for old guitars, a category of instruments sophisticated enough to include real treasures. One collector, catching a glimpse of shaped wood under the debris in the back of a garbage truck, got permission to inspect the mysterious discard, which turned out to be an old Martin guitar in top condition worth upwards of $2,500.
The sharp-eyed collector was indeed in luck. Among guitars, the best known and most desirable are those manufactured by C. F. Martin, a firm founded in 1833. The oldest of these instruments and those most valued, at least by collectors who did not play the guitar were made between that date and 1867. In these, the name “C. F. Martin, New York” is burned or stamped in ink on the wood inside the body, on the neck block and on the head behind the tuning pegs. From 1867 to 1898 the guitars were marked “C. F. Martin & Co., New York.” After this time the guitars also were stamped with serial numbers on the neck block; model designations were added after 1929.
Collectors who play the guitar, and who therefore place more value on sound than on age, prize the post 1898 instruments of Martin’s “D” series. Most desirable is the D-45 model. 91 were made and only some 60 have been traced to an owner.
Collectors who are musicians also value guitars made by Gibson and Epiphone for their playing qualities. Non playing collectors covet the elaborately decorated instruments produced by the Mauren Company and the 19th Century guitars manufactured by Bruno, American Conservatory and Washburn. They are difficult to play for one thing their necks are too broad for easy fingering by the ordinary hand but they are graceful and pleasing to look at. Guitars produced by other manufactures may be desirable if they are constructed of fine hardwoods such as maple, rosewood, mahogany and ebony. Another indication of quality is an ebony finger board or tuning mechanism pegs of ivory, gold plate or engraved silver.
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