Music

C. F. Martin 000-18 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1936), made in Nazareth, PA, serial # 62677, natural lacquer finish, mahogany back and sides, Adirondack spruce top, mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, Hoffee carbon fiber hard shell case. To many players and dedicated Martin fans, pre-1939 examples of the 14-fret 000-18 constitute one of the company's most beloved combinations of wood, wire, and inspiration. While originally considerably less expensive than its rosewood sibling the 000-28, the 000-18 has gained status over the decades as more and more players have come to prefer the crisper, more transparent sound of the mahogany body. Really fine, unaltered examples of 1930s 000-18s are increasingly hard to find in the 2020s, and this is one of the finest we have seen in a while. This guitar was built in early 1936 and remains a truly wonderful instrument, a testament to the enduring quality of these authentic "Golden Age" Martins. The amazingly light mahogany body coupled with the delicately scallop-braced Adirondack spruce top makes for a superbly responsive guitar; the 15" wide narrow-waisted 000 size body contributes both depth and clarity to the sound. This first-quarter-of-1936 guitar has the shorter 24 3/4" scale length that Martin adopted for the model shortly after reverting to the "000" designation on what had been previously cataloged as the OM-18. This guitar is a very early example with rosewood used for the fingerboard and bridge, just replacing the ebony previously used. The 000 sized mahogany body with a 14-fret neck joint was introduced as the OM-18 in 1930, as a less expensive alternative to the rosewood OM-28 recently put in production. The combination was so successful that after 1933 nearly all Martin guitars were being built in this new "Orchestra Model" format, so the OM designation was dropped, and this model was simply called the 000-18. The 14-fret 000-18 has remained one of Martin's mainstays since the early Depression era. While not a particularly expensive guitar by 1936 standards listing at $55.00 (plus case) this instrument still represented a substantial investment to many period players. This is not an ostentatious guitar; the trim is discreet with tortoise celluloid for the pickguard and the body binding and a simple multiply sound hole ring. In classic Martin style, the elegant understatement speaks for itself. Despite its lack of flash the 000-18 was always a fully professional instrument and popular with radio entertainers, most obviously the "Hillbilly" acts common in the Southeast. This is one of 280 000-18s shipped out in 1936; this was a decent number for Martin at the time but miniscule by modern standards. It shows typical pre-war features including lovely mahogany on the back and sides, a superb straight-grained Adirondack spruce top, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, and tortoise celluloid pickguard and body binding. The neck is mahogany with a chunkier profile than many later examples with less of a "V" along the spine, although that does become more noticeable as the neck gets closer to the body. The fingerboard inlay is small mixed size dots and the tuners are early individual Grover Sta-tites with "butterbean" buttons. Internally the most notable feature of this 1936 000-18 is the light and beautifully scalloped bracing under the top. This is built in what is now termed the "Advanced" or "Forward shifted" position, although at the time it was just the way Martin had designed the OM top. Later in the 1930s, the X brace was moved slightly farther back towards the bridge to stiffen that area, as with the heavy strings common at the time Martin was already seeing a lot of warranty repair. While all scallop-braced 000s are very fine-sounding guitars, many players feel this earlier pattern gives the guitar a richer response. This 000 appears to have seen surprisingly little use since new; it remains in excellent-playing condition and sounds absolutely sublime. While it is an exceptional fingerpicker's instrument it also has a lot of punch and superb clarity as a straight rhythm machine, played in open old time or modern (in the 1930s) "chop chord" style. That's how many were used in the Cowboy and "Hillbilly" radio bands of the 1930s, anyway. Whatever the style of music one might prefer, mahogany flat-top guitars simply don not get much any than this. Overall length is 40 in. (101.6 cm.), 15 1/4 in. (38.7 cm.) width, and 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.). This is a superb example of this increasingly desirable pre-war Martin guitar, it has been played over the last nearly 90 years but remains in a better state of preservation than we generally see these days with top-end flat-tops of this vintage. The finish shows typical light wear overall with some fine checking and a collection of small dings, scratches, and dents. The top shows far less pickwear than with many; there are some shallow scratches, dings and dents but really compared to the bulk of pre-war Martins the entire top is pretty clean. The back and sides have mostly minor dings, dents and scratches but no large areas of wear. The back of the neck is only lightly worn as well, with no spots through the finish and only very minor dinks on the surface. There is a visible repair to an almost inevitable spruce grain split off the top pickguard edge, very neatly sealed with no finish added. This is barely visible from the underside and no cleats were added. The top center seam was resealed by the back edge in a similarly unobtrusive manner. There is a small impact mark at the apex of the top/side seam at the turn of the lower bass bout, with a diagonal sealed crack off the top edge and some ancillary stress marks in the area. No finish touch up was added externally and viewed from the inside there is little evidence of this repair. The neck has been neatly reset and if the original bridge was ever reglued it is practically imperceptible. Internally the guitar is completely original and unaltered; the original small maple bridgeplate is very clean with minimal wear at the string holes. The bridge is original (possible VERY slightly rounded down on the top) while the bone saddle is newer. The guitar is an extremely fine-playing instrument, the original frets recently dressed and showing little subsequent wear. Not many o

The Martin 000-18 is a classic model in Martin's lineup, celebrated for its balance, clarity, and vintage charm. It features a Sitka Spruce top, Mahogany back and sides, and an Ebony fretboard for smooth playability.