C.F. MARTIN AND COMPANY

1966, STYLE OOO-28/'45 CONVERSION'

Details

C.F. MARTIN AND COMPANY
1966, STYLE OOO-28/'45 CONVERSION'
Stamped internally C.F. Martin & Co/Nazareth, PA./Made in U.S.A. and OOO-28/208511, labelled This instrument inlayed/by/Custom Pearl Inlay Service/200 Hemphill Avenue/Chattanooga Tenn. 37411/work performed OOO-28-45 No 67 April 11, 1976/Mike Longworth, length of back 19 7/16 in. (49.4 cm.); and later hardshell case with adhesive tape inscribed by Lee Dickson Longworth/Martin: OOO-28-45 #208511

Lee Dickson recalled that this guitar was one of Clapton's two favourite acoustics before the development of his custom signature Martin in 1995. The Longworth has been regularly used by Eric Clapton on recordings, and the phrase 'Get me the Longworth' has been a regular request to Lee in the studio over the years.

Eric Clapton acquired this customised 1966 Martin 000-28 in Nashville in November 1970 whilst he was on his US Tour with the Dominos. He'd stopped there for filming the Johnny Cash show with Carl Perkins as his fellow guest. He used the guitar for recording sessions at Criteria Studios in Miami in the spring of 1974, which produced the album 461 Ocean Boulevard. Clapton was photographed playing the guitar in front of the house he'd rented at that address whilst he was recording that album, and the photo was used as the back cover of the record.

When Clapton went on tour to promote the album later that year, he used this guitar on stage to open the concerts in Scandinavia and the US with Charlie Chaplin's Smile, Let It Grow from 461 Ocean Boulevard and Easy Now from his first solo album. The guitar travelled with Clapton on his first tour of Japan in November 1974, and was used for the opening segment of concerts which consisted of Better Make It Through Today from the album There's One In Every Crowd in addition to Smile and Let It Grow.

This guitar seemed to have remained Clapton's main acoustic guitar throughout 1975/1976 until the 'Rodeo Man' 000-28 took its place on the 1976 tour. It made a brief appearance on stage again during the ARMS tour in the autumn of 1983 for the encore number Good Night Irene with Ronnie Lane. Nine years later, it was played by Andy Fairweather Low during the session for the MTV Unplugged at Bray Studios in 1992. It subsequently made a stage comeback when Clapton used it during the acoustic section of the Blues season at the Royal Albert Hall in 1993 alongside the vintage 000-42 [Lot 19] he used for the Unplugged session. From that point on, 'The Longworth' was regularly used for acoustic numbers on stage throughout the From The Cradle Tour until November 1995. (2)

Lot Essay

EC:..That guitar has a deep association for me..it's ..as important to me as the guitar in the last auction that had a sticker on [ex-lot 96, Crossroads/Clapton 1999 auction].

LD: The Rodeo Man.

EC: In fact, much more so...I used this ALL through the '70s on stage...from the time that I was doing 461..and taking that [461 Ocean Boulevard] material on stage, it's incredibly well used.

CW: Did it have the inlays before you had it?

EC: I bought it from GTR and it had been upgraded already...I bought that when I was doing the Johnny Cash show in 1970...It's a great guitar...a star guitar.

LD: ....It's a stunning, stunning piece...

Eric Clapton and Lee Dickson refer to this guitar as 'The Longworth', after Mike Longworth, a custom builder and the historian for C.F. Martin and Company. Before his employment at Martin, Mike was a guitar maker in Chattanooga, Tennessee where he specialized in pearl inlay work and early models of Martin guitars. He signed this guitar with his initial 'L' inlayed at the end of the fingerboard.

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