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Lot Essay
C.F. Martin and Company and the D-18
The one hundred and eighty-six-year history of Martin Guitars begins in Markneukirchen, Germany with the birth of Christian Frederick Martin in 1796. Born into a family of guitar and cabinetmakers Christian Frederick was sent to Vienna at age 15 to apprentice with celebrated luthier Johann Stauffer. Upon returning to his native Saxon he found himself embroiled in a bitter dispute between two competing Guilds. Members of the Cabinet Makers Guild, who were the traditional makers of guitars in Germany, were being challenged by the powerful Violinmakers Guild for the right to produce guitars. Though successful in defending his right to make guitars, Christian Frederick felt that the restrictive guild system bridled his opportunities and creative process in Germany.
In 1833 he emigrated to the United States setting up his first workshop on Hudson Street in New York’s Lower West Side. Here he plied his trade for five years before moving his family and business to the pastoral setting of Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The rolling hills of the Pennsylvania countryside must have suited Martin for it was here in the 1850’s, unfettered by the German Guilds, that he was fully able to express his artisanship. The most enduring contribution to the luthier’s art came about at this period with his innovation of the “X” bracing pattern for the top of a guitar. This bracing system is responsible for the extraordinary tonal quality of Martin instruments. This system proved to be the perfect balance of mass and material allowing the top to vibrate to its fullest potential. It later proved to be integral with the use of steel strings on guitars allowing the top to withstand the pressures they exert. "X" bracing would be embraced by the majority of guitar makers a century later making the steel string guitar the choice for musicians of popular song.
Through the 150-odd years and seven generations of Martin Family leadership this American guitar company produced a range of models and styles that became the standard for all flat-top guitar design. Their work influenced a generation of American Post War makers in both the design and construction techniques. These instruments gave an indelible voice to all genres of music including Rock and Roll.
The Martin Dreadnought or “D” Size Guitars
As early as 1917 The C.F. Martin Company was producing “extra-large"-bodied guitars for the Boston publishing house of Oliver Ditson which were sold bearing the Ditson name. They came in three styles: the 111, 222 and 333. Christened "The Dreadnought" it got its name from the class of large battleships deployed by the British Navy at the beginning of the 20th Century. These first Dreadnought guitars, constructed by Martin, were made with mahogany back and sides similar to today's Style 18s and fitted with a 12-fret neck. After Ditson's demise in 1931, Martin began producing D-series guitars under their own name, in response to musician’s demands for louder instruments. It is believed that two experimental D-1s of mahogany and seven D-2’s of rosewood were made that year before committing to the formal model designation of the D-18 and D-28 we know today. At 15 5⁄8 inches across the bottom bout it was the largest body guitar yet produced by Martin.
C.F. Martin and Company records show that on September 17, 1931 a Shop Order, number 1100, was processed and work began on guitar - serial number 48324. This instrument would be the first Martin guitar manufactured officially as a D-18 and the only one made in 1931. By 1934 production number had risen to fifty-five D-18s. That same year the neck length would be increased on the Dreadnought allowing a full 14 frets free of the body, permitting the player more access up the fingerboard. In 1947 C.F. Martin produced seven hundred and seventy-five D-18s.
The Dreadnought became an almost instant success among performing guitarists despite some reservations by Frederick and Frank Henry Martin. During the height of the Depression, it would outsell all other models made by The Martin Company except the budget priced O-17.
The fact that most guitar makers employ a Dreadnought model to this day is a testament to its success as an outline, in acoustic guitar design.
The one hundred and eighty-six-year history of Martin Guitars begins in Markneukirchen, Germany with the birth of Christian Frederick Martin in 1796. Born into a family of guitar and cabinetmakers Christian Frederick was sent to Vienna at age 15 to apprentice with celebrated luthier Johann Stauffer. Upon returning to his native Saxon he found himself embroiled in a bitter dispute between two competing Guilds. Members of the Cabinet Makers Guild, who were the traditional makers of guitars in Germany, were being challenged by the powerful Violinmakers Guild for the right to produce guitars. Though successful in defending his right to make guitars, Christian Frederick felt that the restrictive guild system bridled his opportunities and creative process in Germany.
In 1833 he emigrated to the United States setting up his first workshop on Hudson Street in New York’s Lower West Side. Here he plied his trade for five years before moving his family and business to the pastoral setting of Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The rolling hills of the Pennsylvania countryside must have suited Martin for it was here in the 1850’s, unfettered by the German Guilds, that he was fully able to express his artisanship. The most enduring contribution to the luthier’s art came about at this period with his innovation of the “X” bracing pattern for the top of a guitar. This bracing system is responsible for the extraordinary tonal quality of Martin instruments. This system proved to be the perfect balance of mass and material allowing the top to vibrate to its fullest potential. It later proved to be integral with the use of steel strings on guitars allowing the top to withstand the pressures they exert. "X" bracing would be embraced by the majority of guitar makers a century later making the steel string guitar the choice for musicians of popular song.
Through the 150-odd years and seven generations of Martin Family leadership this American guitar company produced a range of models and styles that became the standard for all flat-top guitar design. Their work influenced a generation of American Post War makers in both the design and construction techniques. These instruments gave an indelible voice to all genres of music including Rock and Roll.
The Martin Dreadnought or “D” Size Guitars
As early as 1917 The C.F. Martin Company was producing “extra-large"-bodied guitars for the Boston publishing house of Oliver Ditson which were sold bearing the Ditson name. They came in three styles: the 111, 222 and 333. Christened "The Dreadnought" it got its name from the class of large battleships deployed by the British Navy at the beginning of the 20th Century. These first Dreadnought guitars, constructed by Martin, were made with mahogany back and sides similar to today's Style 18s and fitted with a 12-fret neck. After Ditson's demise in 1931, Martin began producing D-series guitars under their own name, in response to musician’s demands for louder instruments. It is believed that two experimental D-1s of mahogany and seven D-2’s of rosewood were made that year before committing to the formal model designation of the D-18 and D-28 we know today. At 15 5⁄8 inches across the bottom bout it was the largest body guitar yet produced by Martin.
C.F. Martin and Company records show that on September 17, 1931 a Shop Order, number 1100, was processed and work began on guitar - serial number 48324. This instrument would be the first Martin guitar manufactured officially as a D-18 and the only one made in 1931. By 1934 production number had risen to fifty-five D-18s. That same year the neck length would be increased on the Dreadnought allowing a full 14 frets free of the body, permitting the player more access up the fingerboard. In 1947 C.F. Martin produced seven hundred and seventy-five D-18s.
The Dreadnought became an almost instant success among performing guitarists despite some reservations by Frederick and Frank Henry Martin. During the height of the Depression, it would outsell all other models made by The Martin Company except the budget priced O-17.
The fact that most guitar makers employ a Dreadnought model to this day is a testament to its success as an outline, in acoustic guitar design.