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On a recent visit to Mandolin Brothers here in New York I made a purchase of a Martin HD-28. While I was waiting to be "rung up" I asked the salesman what his oldest instrument in the shop was. He pulled out the following Martin Guitar from Circa 1860, and allowed me to play it. I quickly fingerpicked "Hardtimes Come Again No More" and smelled the sound hole of the instrument. The aroma of history made me euphoric, and he carefully took the guitar placed it back into it's original coffin case, and locked it up in the back. I could only imagine what it sounded like with Gut-Strings on it!!
Here is the link to the ad for the guitar from Mandolin Brothers website, followed by their description of the instrument. As far as I was concerned this was amazing. I cannot afford it, but the fact they let me hold and play it was great!
"15-6168 C F Martin (circa mid-1860s) Style 3-24 parlor guitar, ISI-1757, Brazilian rosewood and close-grained spruce, possibly Engelmann or German,
(although Adirondack was a favored wood from 1833 until the late 1940s but we would think that on his higher level guitars C F might have used a finer grained variety) with ivory pyramid bridge, in very good condition with original (but restored) coffin case. Anthony (Tony) Huvard is likely the leading luthier living in Richmond, VA. He has done prodigious research into this instrument and its period and prepared an 11-page document, not counting the blank pages in which he traces the early history of the Martin Guitar Company and annotates the condition of this instrument. In this document Mr. H. states that he believes that this guitar is an early prototype of the Style 3 ½-34. We agree with the -34 suffix (Style 34 is like a Martin Style 30 except with an ivory bridge) but we feel it’s a Size 3. (You can stop holding your breath now.) This guitar has measurements that do not entirely conform to any one Martin model. The width of the body is 11 3/32nds”, at the upper bout 8 1/8”, total length is 33 15/16”, body length is 16 ½”, the scale length is 22 5/8”. This guitar has a 1 ¾” nut width, 2 ¼” width at the 12th fret, a soundhole diameter of just under 3 ¼”, depth at bottom is nominally 3 ¾.”
According to Mike Longworth a body width of 11 3/32nd” is about right for a Size 3, an upper bout of 8 1/8” is also a Size 3, but a Size 3 has a scale of 23 7/8” and this has a scale of 22 5/8th”. A Style 3 has a 3 11/32” soundhole and this is 3 1/4”. We believe that specifications could vary in those days and that this is a Size 3 Martin. The trim includes colored wood “rope” marquetry around the face, and a three-ring soundhole rosette with abalone in the center ring, no fretboard inlays, but the fretboard, like the top and back, heel cap and end graft are all bordered in actual ivory. This guitar has a squared, slotted headstock, six gorgeous “Jerome” brand tuners with floral carved mother of pearl buttons and etched leaves encircling the four screws on each side of the German silvered plates. The back stripe is colored wood herringbone. The “C F Martin, New York” logo appears three times – on the back brace, the neck block and stamped into the back of the headstock. Mike Longworth says that if it doesn’t have “& Co.” in any of the three stampings, then it was made prior to 1868. As you all know, C F Martin Sr. moved his young company to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1839, having hanged out in New York City for only 6 short years but because he had a New York distributor he left “New York” on his logo to add an aura of urbane sophistication. The neck is cedar and is comprised of a long V-shaped shaft connected to the slotted-squared headstock by means of a V-shape dart. Mr. Huvard says that a typical guitar finish of this era was “French Polish” which is when the varnish is applied while the finisher whistles "La Marseillaise,” but it is our assertion that this guitar was possibly sent back to C F Martin in the last third of the 20th century; at that time a large rosewood bridge plate was added, and the body (but not the neck) was either refinished or oversprayed in matte (satin) lacquer. The work, although regrettable, is exemplary. It has, at this time: normal signs of use and wear, dings, nicks, scratches, plus a repaired (and paper or fabric reinforced) 7” top crack on the bass side between waist and bridge. The area around that repair is discolored darkly, forming the silhouette of a 34-year-old garfish named Edgar who haunts the brackish water of the Mediterranean Sea, near Malta, and has been the bane and the obsession of local fishing persons since 1974. The guitar is housed in what appears to be an original coffin case that has been stripped, refinished (and plush lined in blue velvet inside) in natural but which retains its two original clasps (the clasp near the neck has a tiny broken off piece on one side, not important). The case also has two skeleton keys and an operable lockable center clasp.
Here’s the lovely part: on the headstock of the guitar, centered near the top, is a silver cameo measuring ¾” by 3/8” that has little waves etched in an oval around the surface and, at center, is engraved “Katie.” Katie was Aunt Kate, or Sarah Catherine Walthall, who was born in 1838, survived the evacuation of Richmond, VA (the “Night of Terror” on April 2, 1865), as was sung about in The Band’s “The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down,” and who died, in Richmond, in 1928. During her life she was an active musician who, in 1880, despite the misgivings of her parents, married her music teacher and mentor, Mr. Fitz William Rosier, “a cultivated English widower” and “eminent player” of his time, who was thirty years older than she. They moved to New York City where Mr. Rosier died suddenly after only 18 months of their marriage, at the age of 73, and Katie went back to Richmond and resumed giving piano lessons. Her students performed in her “Suiree Musales” at the YMCA Hall at and around the turn of the century. It should be pointed out that when he was only 45 years old Mr. Rosier ran a “School for Young Ladies” in Richmond, and his promise was: “Mr. R’s system of Education will continue the same [as] he has pursued during the many years he has been engaged in teaching. He endeavors, first, to form a solid foundation in all of the indispensable branches, after which it becomes comparatively easy to raise the ornamental superstructure: a harmonious union of the two being what is required to fit [a] woman worthily to occupy her true position in life.” This guitar has most recently been owned for almost 40 years by the Great Granddaughter of Katie Walthall’s sister Mary Jane (1840-1883). Katie must, every day of her life, have loved owning this extremely fine C F Martin guitar.
This nylon-strung instrument (and you will, of course, keep it that way) is in remarkable condition for its advanced age (around 142 years). It plays wonderfully easily, sounds supremely pretty and melodious in all registers. Yes, it does buzz slightly in the upper fret positions on strings 5 and 6 and to those who might find that any sort of fault we say “Go find another 142-year-old Martin in this clean condition and tell me that it has no such minor quirks.” The Brazilian rosewood, which was possibly cut from a tree that might have been a young adult in the time that the Monroe Doctrine was signed and John Quincy Adams was president, is as much a statement of Dalbergian perfection as one can ever hope to see. Said wood is straight-grain, quarter-sawn and consumed with spidery sparkle. The neck as straight as can be expected, the action is low and comfortable, and the sound brings us back to the wistful mood established so vividly in Randy Newman’s line: “A real nice way to spend the day in Dayton, Ohio on a lazy Sunday afternoon in nineteen hundred and three.”
We can’t think of anything that would make a guitarist happier than to own this symbol of both American history and a memorable measurement of this country’s mannerly musical mores of the antebellum and Civil War era. This WAS $12,939 but IT’S NOW ON SALE for $10,305 or, at our cash discount price, $9,995" (Mandolin Brothers - Staten Island, New York)
Here is the link to the ad for the guitar from Mandolin Brothers website, followed by their description of the instrument. As far as I was concerned this was amazing. I cannot afford it, but the fact they let me hold and play it was great!
"15-6168 C F Martin (circa mid-1860s) Style 3-24 parlor guitar, ISI-1757, Brazilian rosewood and close-grained spruce, possibly Engelmann or German,
(although Adirondack was a favored wood from 1833 until the late 1940s but we would think that on his higher level guitars C F might have used a finer grained variety) with ivory pyramid bridge, in very good condition with original (but restored) coffin case. Anthony (Tony) Huvard is likely the leading luthier living in Richmond, VA. He has done prodigious research into this instrument and its period and prepared an 11-page document, not counting the blank pages in which he traces the early history of the Martin Guitar Company and annotates the condition of this instrument. In this document Mr. H. states that he believes that this guitar is an early prototype of the Style 3 ½-34. We agree with the -34 suffix (Style 34 is like a Martin Style 30 except with an ivory bridge) but we feel it’s a Size 3. (You can stop holding your breath now.) This guitar has measurements that do not entirely conform to any one Martin model. The width of the body is 11 3/32nds”, at the upper bout 8 1/8”, total length is 33 15/16”, body length is 16 ½”, the scale length is 22 5/8”. This guitar has a 1 ¾” nut width, 2 ¼” width at the 12th fret, a soundhole diameter of just under 3 ¼”, depth at bottom is nominally 3 ¾.”
According to Mike Longworth a body width of 11 3/32nd” is about right for a Size 3, an upper bout of 8 1/8” is also a Size 3, but a Size 3 has a scale of 23 7/8” and this has a scale of 22 5/8th”. A Style 3 has a 3 11/32” soundhole and this is 3 1/4”. We believe that specifications could vary in those days and that this is a Size 3 Martin. The trim includes colored wood “rope” marquetry around the face, and a three-ring soundhole rosette with abalone in the center ring, no fretboard inlays, but the fretboard, like the top and back, heel cap and end graft are all bordered in actual ivory. This guitar has a squared, slotted headstock, six gorgeous “Jerome” brand tuners with floral carved mother of pearl buttons and etched leaves encircling the four screws on each side of the German silvered plates. The back stripe is colored wood herringbone. The “C F Martin, New York” logo appears three times – on the back brace, the neck block and stamped into the back of the headstock. Mike Longworth says that if it doesn’t have “& Co.” in any of the three stampings, then it was made prior to 1868. As you all know, C F Martin Sr. moved his young company to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1839, having hanged out in New York City for only 6 short years but because he had a New York distributor he left “New York” on his logo to add an aura of urbane sophistication. The neck is cedar and is comprised of a long V-shaped shaft connected to the slotted-squared headstock by means of a V-shape dart. Mr. Huvard says that a typical guitar finish of this era was “French Polish” which is when the varnish is applied while the finisher whistles "La Marseillaise,” but it is our assertion that this guitar was possibly sent back to C F Martin in the last third of the 20th century; at that time a large rosewood bridge plate was added, and the body (but not the neck) was either refinished or oversprayed in matte (satin) lacquer. The work, although regrettable, is exemplary. It has, at this time: normal signs of use and wear, dings, nicks, scratches, plus a repaired (and paper or fabric reinforced) 7” top crack on the bass side between waist and bridge. The area around that repair is discolored darkly, forming the silhouette of a 34-year-old garfish named Edgar who haunts the brackish water of the Mediterranean Sea, near Malta, and has been the bane and the obsession of local fishing persons since 1974. The guitar is housed in what appears to be an original coffin case that has been stripped, refinished (and plush lined in blue velvet inside) in natural but which retains its two original clasps (the clasp near the neck has a tiny broken off piece on one side, not important). The case also has two skeleton keys and an operable lockable center clasp.
Here’s the lovely part: on the headstock of the guitar, centered near the top, is a silver cameo measuring ¾” by 3/8” that has little waves etched in an oval around the surface and, at center, is engraved “Katie.” Katie was Aunt Kate, or Sarah Catherine Walthall, who was born in 1838, survived the evacuation of Richmond, VA (the “Night of Terror” on April 2, 1865), as was sung about in The Band’s “The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down,” and who died, in Richmond, in 1928. During her life she was an active musician who, in 1880, despite the misgivings of her parents, married her music teacher and mentor, Mr. Fitz William Rosier, “a cultivated English widower” and “eminent player” of his time, who was thirty years older than she. They moved to New York City where Mr. Rosier died suddenly after only 18 months of their marriage, at the age of 73, and Katie went back to Richmond and resumed giving piano lessons. Her students performed in her “Suiree Musales” at the YMCA Hall at and around the turn of the century. It should be pointed out that when he was only 45 years old Mr. Rosier ran a “School for Young Ladies” in Richmond, and his promise was: “Mr. R’s system of Education will continue the same [as] he has pursued during the many years he has been engaged in teaching. He endeavors, first, to form a solid foundation in all of the indispensable branches, after which it becomes comparatively easy to raise the ornamental superstructure: a harmonious union of the two being what is required to fit [a] woman worthily to occupy her true position in life.” This guitar has most recently been owned for almost 40 years by the Great Granddaughter of Katie Walthall’s sister Mary Jane (1840-1883). Katie must, every day of her life, have loved owning this extremely fine C F Martin guitar.
This nylon-strung instrument (and you will, of course, keep it that way) is in remarkable condition for its advanced age (around 142 years). It plays wonderfully easily, sounds supremely pretty and melodious in all registers. Yes, it does buzz slightly in the upper fret positions on strings 5 and 6 and to those who might find that any sort of fault we say “Go find another 142-year-old Martin in this clean condition and tell me that it has no such minor quirks.” The Brazilian rosewood, which was possibly cut from a tree that might have been a young adult in the time that the Monroe Doctrine was signed and John Quincy Adams was president, is as much a statement of Dalbergian perfection as one can ever hope to see. Said wood is straight-grain, quarter-sawn and consumed with spidery sparkle. The neck as straight as can be expected, the action is low and comfortable, and the sound brings us back to the wistful mood established so vividly in Randy Newman’s line: “A real nice way to spend the day in Dayton, Ohio on a lazy Sunday afternoon in nineteen hundred and three.”
We can’t think of anything that would make a guitarist happier than to own this symbol of both American history and a memorable measurement of this country’s mannerly musical mores of the antebellum and Civil War era. This WAS $12,939 but IT’S NOW ON SALE for $10,305 or, at our cash discount price, $9,995" (Mandolin Brothers - Staten Island, New York)
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