Low Tuned & 7 String Electric Guitars
Martin Guitar Fast Facts
The system Martin uses for cataloguing its guitars is quite complex and has been further complicated by a long history during which models have been refined, altered, discontinued and re-introduced. However, in simple terms, this is how it works. Each guitar has a two-part code. The first part indicates the size of the guitar, and the second part indicates the style. A Martin OO-18, for example, is therefore a OO size guitar made and decorated in the 18 style.
A Brief History of the Steel String Guitar
The steel-string guitar as we know it today evolved in America, though the majority of the instrument makers who contributed to its development were European or of European descent. During the latter half of the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth century, America had become a huge cultural melting pot. For a number of reasons including racial, religious and political persecution thousands of European, Russian and other emigrants were crossing the Atlantic and seeking a new life in America. Among them were highly skilled musical instrument makers who were to dominate the construction and production of the steel stringed acoustic guitar.
Two distinctly different methods of construction evolved. The first led to what is known as the flat top guitar and, basically, adapted European classical guitar-making techniques. The second method produced the arch-top (or f-hole) guitar, with a contoured or arched soundboard and back carved from a solid piece of weed. Its design and construction were derived from European violin-making techniques.
Any history of steel-string acoustic guitars must
begin with the names Martin and Gibson, the most influential of all the
manufacturers. Over the next few pages we will take a look at the Martin
organization and its guitars, at the Gibson company, and at a few of the
other manufacturers who have made, and still make, excellent and lasting
guitars.
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