C. F. Martin & Company facts for kids

C. F. Martin & Company

Industry	Musical instruments
Founded	1833; 192 years ago (1833) in New York City. Relocated to Pennsylvania in 1839.
Founder	Christian Frederick Martin
Headquarters	Nazareth, Pennsylvania , United States
Key people	Christian Frederick Martin IV (Executive Chairman); Thomas Ripsam (CEO)
Products	acoustic and classical guitars, ukuleles, strings formerly: electric guitars, tenor guitars, mandolins, tiples, basses

C.F. Martin & Company, often called Martin, is a famous American company that makes guitars. It was started in 1833 by Christian Frederick Martin. Martin is especially known for its amazing acoustic guitars. They used to make other instruments like mandolins and ukuleles too!

The main factory and office are in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley. The first factory building is now a historic place. Today, the main building has the Martin Guitar Museum. Here, you can see over 170 guitars made by the company. You can also see pictures of famous guitar players, try out guitars, or take a tour of the factory.

Martin makes steel-string and classical acoustic guitars. They also make ukuleles. The company produces about 193 guitars every day. They also make instruments and strings in Mexico.

The Story of Martin Guitars

The Martin family has run the company since it began. C.F. 'Chris' Martin IV, the current Executive Chairman, is the founder's great-great-great-grandson. Martin was the first company to create many features of the modern flat-top acoustic guitar. Important ideas from Martin include the Dreadnought guitar shape and special internal wood supports called "scalloped bracing."

In 2021, C.F. Martin IV stepped down as CEO. He is still the Executive Chairman. Thomas Ripsam became the first CEO not from the Martin family.

How Martin Guitars Started

Christian Frederick Martin was born in 1796 in Germany. His hometown, Markneukirchen, was famous for making musical instruments. His family had been woodworkers for a long time. His father also built guitars. When C.F. Martin was 15, he became an apprentice to Johann Georg Stauffer. Stauffer was a well-known guitar maker in Vienna, Austria.

After his training, Martin went back home and opened his own guitar shop. But he soon faced problems with local guilds. Guilds were like old-fashioned clubs for craftsmen. They controlled who could make what. The Violin Makers' Guild said only they could make musical instruments. The Cabinet Makers' Guild, which guitar makers belonged to, disagreed.

Even though the cabinet makers won, C.F. Martin felt the guild system was too strict. So, he moved to New York City in 1833. By 1838, he moved his business to Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

How Martin Guitars Grew

The Martin company is known for developing the "X-bracing" system in the 1850s. This is a special way to arrange wood supports inside the guitar. While Martin didn't invent it, they were the first to use it widely.

X-bracing helped guitars handle steel strings. These strings became popular in the early 1900s. They made guitars louder and more powerful. By 1921, Martin focused on making steel-string guitars.

The company's fame and production grew. They started making mandolins in the late 1890s and ukuleles in the 1920s. By 1928, they made over 5,000 instruments each year. Ukuleles especially helped the company stay strong in the 1920s.

Martin remained a family-owned business. They had a small number of skilled craftspeople who made instruments mostly by hand. By the early 1960s, people had to wait up to three years for a Martin guitar! In 1964, Martin opened a new factory, which is still their main production place today.

The company never paid musicians to promote their guitars. But they did offer a 20% discount to professional musicians. They would also add custom names or designs for performers.

The Great Depression and New Ideas

The Great Depression in 1929 hurt Martin's sales. The company came up with two big ideas to help business.

The 14-Fret Orchestra Model

One new idea was the 14-fret neck. This neck allowed players to reach higher notes more easily. Most guitars at the time had necks joined at the 12th fret. Martin wanted to attract banjo players to switch to guitar.

A banjo player and teacher named Perry Bechtel asked Martin to build a guitar with a 15-fret neck. Martin changed the shape of their 000-size guitar to make the neck join at the 14th fret. These 14-fret guitars were designed to be played with a pick. They were meant to replace banjos in jazz orchestras. So, Martin called its first 14-fret, 000-shape guitar the Orchestra Model (OM).

Original Martin OMs from 1929 to 1931 are very rare and expensive. Many guitarists believe the OM is one of the best acoustic guitar designs. The change to a 14-fret neck became so popular that Martin made it standard on almost all their guitars. Other guitar companies soon copied this design.

The Dreadnought Guitar

Martin's second big idea from this time was the dreadnought guitar. This guitar was first made in 1916 with a retailer called Oliver Ditson Co. The dreadnought body was much larger and deeper than most guitars.

In 1906, the Royal Navy launched a huge battleship called HMS Dreadnought. Martin used this name for their new, large guitar. The bigger size made the guitar louder, especially the bass notes. This helped singers who had limited sound equipment.

In 1931, Martin brought back the dreadnought with X-bracing. Two years later, they changed its body shape to fit a 14-fret neck. It quickly became their best-selling guitar. The "dreadnought" size is now one of the most common acoustic guitar shapes.

Archtop Guitars

Martin also made archtop guitars in the 1930s. These guitars had a different design from other archtops. However, Martin archtops were not very popular and were stopped after a few years. Even so, some of these guitars were later changed into flat-top guitars, which inspired new Martin models.

During this time, Martin also kept making ukuleles, tiples, and mandolins.

Martin Guitars in the 1960s

In the late 1960s, Martin made hollow-body electric guitars. But these electric guitars were not popular. Since then, the company has mostly made only acoustic guitars. They also brought back the famous D-45 model in 1968.

Many musicians in the 1960s, like Clarence White, preferred Martin guitars made before World War II. These older guitars had different internal bracing and used a special type of wood called Adirondack red spruce. After 1969, Martin started using Indian rosewood instead of Brazilian rosewood for some parts, due to new rules.

• Martin Dreadnought size guitars
• 

  Martin D-28

• 

  Martin HD-28

• 

  Martin D-41

• 

  Martin D-42 Johnny Cash Signature

• 

  Martin D-45

Martin made hollow-body electric guitars in the mid-1960s, like the GT-70 and GT-75. About 700 of each were made. These guitars had a typical 1960s "jangly" sound. They came in black, red, and burgundy colors. However, they did not become very popular.

• Martin electric guitars after mid-1960s
• 

  Martin GT-75 (1967)

• 

  Martin EM-18 (1979)

• 

  Martin EB18 (1979)

• 

  Martin EB-28 (1983)

• 

  Martin ALternative XT (2002-)

• 

  Martin CF-1 (2004)

Stinger Guitars

From 1985 to 1996, Martin also made electric guitars and basses under the name Stinger. These guitars were similar to Fender guitars and were made in Korea. They were then sent to the Martin factory for inspection and final setup.

Recent Events

Martin started its "Custom Shop" in 1979. In 1990, Martin built its 500,000th guitar. In 2004, they built their millionth guitar! This special guitar was made by hand and has over 40 rubies and diamonds. It is worth about $1 million. In 2007, Martin had 600 employees.

In 2009, an acoustic guitar played by Elvis Presley in his last concert sold for $106,200 at an auction.

To reach more customers, Martin introduced guitars made with laminated wood in 1993. They also created a less expensive series using special laminates. These guitars still have great sound quality and are made in their factory in Mexico.

In 2018, Martin announced a special D-45 John Mayer signature guitar.

In 2020, a Martin D-18 E guitar played by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged show sold for over $6 million. This was a record price for any guitar! Also in 2020, a D-18 guitar owned by Elvis Presley sold for $1.32 million. This was the highest price for a non-modified acoustic guitar.

Martin Guitar Experts

In 2018, Martin hired Greg Koch as a Martin guitar ambassador. He now gives clinics, showing off different Martin guitar models.

See also

In Spanish: C.F. Martin & Company para niños

• List of music museums