Guitar
Maker
C. F. Martin
Date1861
Place MadeNew York, New York, United States, North America
Model2-1/2 - 40
Serial No.none
SignedBranded on back graft: [lettering curved downward at each end] C∙F∙MARTIN / NEW∙YORK Branded on back of head: [lettering curved downward at each end] [lettering curved downward at each end] C∙F∙MARTIN / NEW∙YORK
Branded on neck block: [lettering curved downward at each end] C∙F∙MARTIN / NEW∙YORK
MarkingsWritten in pencil on inside of top, upper bass bout: VII
DescriptionNMM 6074, a model 2½-40, is a highly decorated, expensive model that tastefully contrasts ivory and abalone inlay with the spruce and rosewood from which the body is made. Remarkably, the trim closely resembles that still used on the D-45 model. However, it also bears the unusual feature of having the rosewood back lined with spruce on the inside of the instrument. Although branded C. F. Martin / New York, this guitar was made in Nazareth, where Martin had moved from New York in 1839. Martin guitars were still sold in New York through a company run by fellow Saxon immigrants from Neukirchen (Saxony), C. A. Zoebisch & Sons. According to research by Grieg Hutton, this guitar was originally shipped on February 19, 1861 to C. A. Zoebisch, the New York dealer, sold for $34.
Stringing: six gut strings
Soundboard: two-piece spruce, wide grain narrowing toward the flanks
Back: two-piece book-matched Brazilian rosewood lined with spruce; no back stripe
Ribs: two-piece Brazilian rosewood divided by ivory end graft strip (slightly wider toward top than bottom) surrounded on all four sides by light and medium-brown hardwood purfling (2 strips) on each side, and medium-brown purfling strips at top and bottom
Head: slotted cedar peghead veneered with rosewood
Neck: cedar; flared heel
Heel cap: ivory; slightly domed shape
Binding: top binding ivory with black hardwood strips on each side of abalone trim, medium-brown hardwood and light hardwood on ribs; back binding ivory with light hardwood and medium-brown hardwood strips on back and ribs
Fingerboard: ebony bound in ivory; 18 nickel-silver frets; no fret markers
Nut: ivory
Bridge: ivory, with chamfered, raised squares at each end; separate ivory saddle; bone bridge pins with abalone eyes
Pegs: two sets of blued steel and nickel-silver worm-gear machine heads with nickel-silver rollers, mother-of-pearl heads, the plates engraved with zigzag borders; two bull’s-eyes at each end and bull’s eyes around each screw affixing plates to headstock
Endpin: ebony with abalone eye inside mother-of-pearl ring
Rosette: abalone surrounded on each side by black hardwood-ivory-black hardwood-light hardwood-black hardwood purfling strips; two rings on each side comprised of 5-ply black and light hardwood strips with natural wood in between
Varnish: clear
Linings: kerfed mahogany; five faded red cotton cloth strips glued to inside of ribs on each side, running perpendicular to plane of top and back
Neck block: mahogany; chamfered corners
End block: mahogany; chamfered corners; rosewood graft at center, perpendicular to top and back
Top braces: spruce X-brace, the joint of main cross brace reinforced with faded red cloth; two transverse braces; rosewood bridge plate
Back braces: spruce back graft; three spruce back braces, the brace in the lower bout with rounded edges, and wider and lower in height than the two braces in the upper bouts
DimensionsTotal guitar length: 926 mm (36-7/16″)
Back length: 454 mm (17-7/8″)
Upper bout width: 211 mm (8-9/32″)
Waist width: 175 mm (6-29/32″)
Lower bout width: 296 mm (11-21/32″)
Rib height (including edging) at heel: 82 mm (3-1/4″)
Rib height, at waist: 89 mm (3-1/2″)
Rib height, at end block: 99 mm (3-29/32″)
Head length: 164 mm (6-15/32″)
Head width, top: 70 mm (2-3/4″)
Head width, bottom: 57 mm (1-29/32″)
Neck length (nut to ribs): 311 mm (12-1/4″)
Neck width, nut: 45 mm (1-25/32″)
Neck width, heel: 57 mm (2-1/4″)
Soundhole diameter: 90 mm (3-17/32″)
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 622 mm (24-1/2″)
ProvenancePurchased from Gruhn Guitars, Nashville, Tennessee, 1997. Originally shipped on February 19, 1861 to C. A. Zoebisch, the New York dealer, sold for $34. (research provided by Grieg Hutton.)
Published ReferencesGruhn Guitars Catalog, May 1997, p.3.
André P Larson, “Two Superb Martin Guitars – One Old, One Not So Old!” America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. 25, No. 4, (August 1998), p. 8.
Philip F. Gura, C. F. Martin & His Guitars, 1796-1873 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), Plates 3-17 to 3-22.
James Westbrook and Ted Fuller, The Complete Illustrated Book of the Acoustic Guitar (Wigston, UK: Lorenz Books, 2012), p. 194.
Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 1997
Object number06074
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