CF Martin and Co - History and the Legends That Use Them
Many guitar makers began as cabinet makers and woodworkers.
It was no different for Christian Frederick Martin who came from a long line of woodworking craftsmen.
He was born in Markneukirchen, Germany in 1796 and by 15 years of age, he began an apprenticeship with Johann Stauffer, a well known guitar maker from Vienna, Austria.
C.
F.
Martin decided to move his operations to the U.
S.
in 1833 after feuding guilds in Germany could not agree on which one was allowed to manufacture guitars, the Cabinet Makers Guild or the Violin Makers Guild.
In 1838 Martin moved his shop from New York City to Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
His innovative methods in bracing enabled manufactures to be able to use steel strings on their guitars instead of cat gut.
With the popularity of folk and country music, this type of guitar became the guitar of choice with its more resonate tone and greater volume.
To further this idea, Martin designed a new guitar with a larger body and borrowed the name a new battleship the HMS Dreadnaught, and the design is in wide use today.
Another innovation for Martin came during the depression when many banjo players were struggling to find jobs and needed to switch to playing guitars in the jazz bands.
Before this, guitar necks generally joined the body at the 12th fret, making it more difficult to reach the higher notes.
From a request from a tenor guitar player, he came up with a design where the neck met the body at the 14th fret.
On another request from a banjo player, Martin altered another of his designs to the 14th fret.
Using a plectrum style of play, banjo players could play guitar in the jazz bands more comfortably.
C.
F Martin & Company have produced more than one million guitars and have come out with small production runs of guitars that have the collaborative efforts of guitar legends such as Eric Clapton, Clarence White, Paul Simon, Steven Stills, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Arlo Guthrie.
Roger McGuinn worked with the Martin company to develop a seven string folk guitar, where the third string is augmented with a string tuned one octave higher.
This gives the guitar a harmonic quality, similar to a twelve string.
It was no different for Christian Frederick Martin who came from a long line of woodworking craftsmen.
He was born in Markneukirchen, Germany in 1796 and by 15 years of age, he began an apprenticeship with Johann Stauffer, a well known guitar maker from Vienna, Austria.
C.
F.
Martin decided to move his operations to the U.
S.
in 1833 after feuding guilds in Germany could not agree on which one was allowed to manufacture guitars, the Cabinet Makers Guild or the Violin Makers Guild.
In 1838 Martin moved his shop from New York City to Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
His innovative methods in bracing enabled manufactures to be able to use steel strings on their guitars instead of cat gut.
With the popularity of folk and country music, this type of guitar became the guitar of choice with its more resonate tone and greater volume.
To further this idea, Martin designed a new guitar with a larger body and borrowed the name a new battleship the HMS Dreadnaught, and the design is in wide use today.
Another innovation for Martin came during the depression when many banjo players were struggling to find jobs and needed to switch to playing guitars in the jazz bands.
Before this, guitar necks generally joined the body at the 12th fret, making it more difficult to reach the higher notes.
From a request from a tenor guitar player, he came up with a design where the neck met the body at the 14th fret.
On another request from a banjo player, Martin altered another of his designs to the 14th fret.
Using a plectrum style of play, banjo players could play guitar in the jazz bands more comfortably.
C.
F Martin & Company have produced more than one million guitars and have come out with small production runs of guitars that have the collaborative efforts of guitar legends such as Eric Clapton, Clarence White, Paul Simon, Steven Stills, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Arlo Guthrie.
Roger McGuinn worked with the Martin company to develop a seven string folk guitar, where the third string is augmented with a string tuned one octave higher.
This gives the guitar a harmonic quality, similar to a twelve string.
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