C. F. Martin 00-17 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1948)
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C. F. Martin 00-17 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1948), made in Nazareth, PA, serial # 106364, natural lacquer finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, rosewood fingerboard, black hard shell case.
This is a played-in but not abused early post-war Martin 00-17 from 1948, just hitting its 75th birthday! The 00-17 was the largest and most expensive of the all-mahogany Martins of the 1940s, the company's budget guitar offerings of the period. Despite their cosmetic austerity, Style 17 guitars are still built to the same quality standards as Martin always maintained and are fully professional quality instruments.
The 00-17 has a lightly braced all-mahogany body with only minimal decoration: no binding anywhere, a discreet 5-ply sound hole ring, and small dot fingerboard inlay, a small straight rosewood bridge, and tortoise celluloid pickguard. The tuners are still the riveted gear, flat plate Klusons designed to use minimal material during the war. This guitar listed at $46 in 1948, (without the case) raised to an even $50 in the middle of the year, when 702 were shipped out of Nazareth.
These mahogany-top Martin guitars have generally aged extremely well, especially considering their budget origins. They offer a distinctive crisp ringing tone and are generally considered excellent fingerpicking instruments, this example with the more lightly braced 1940s top especially so. The larger 00-17 also responds nicely to open strumming and records very well, making for an excellent singer-songwriter's instrument. This one has seen decades of use but sounds great, a very friendly guitar and a classic vintage Martin that won't break the bank.
Overall length is 39 1/4 in. (99.7 cm.), 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This is a perhaps slightly scruffy looking in spots but very solid and great sounding old mahogany Martin 00. The original lacquer finish has a decent amount of checking but little of the heavy strumming wear prevalent on many older Martins; the only really notable pick wear is to the lower soundhole rim. The finish overall has dings, dents and scrapes but no large areas worn away. There are a couple of deep dings in the top above the soundhole, and an area of what looks like moisture wear on the back edge of the top. The back of the neck is actually comparatively clean, worn down in a few spots with a few feelable dinks and dents but none of the deep capo wear often found.
The lower treble bout side/back edge shows an old impact area solidly but somewhat sloppily repaired, there is visible glue but no extra wood was patched in. A tiny tight grain split between the upper edge pickguard and the bridge shows no sign of growth, this is very common as celluloid pickguards start to shrink and peel up over time. Other than these the guitar is crack free.
The neck has been reset, and the fingerboard lightly planed with a fairly recent refret; the fingerboard has some noticeable divoting still. The original Kluson tuners have newer buttons installed. The original rosewood bridge has had the most noticeable repair, with the top being slightly lowered and the pin holes being plugged and redrilled. Oddly despite this work the original small maple bridgeplate is fully intact showing no repair or alteration. Internally, all of the braces are still original and intact. There was never a strap button added to the heel. This is a great playing 00 with a bigger, rounder sound than many all-mahogany Martins, a bit ragged but very right living in an old 1960s alligator-grain HSC. Overall Very Good + Condition.
This is a played-in but not abused early post-war Martin 00-17 from 1948, just hitting its 75th birthday! The 00-17 was the largest and most expensive of the all-mahogany Martins of the 1940s, the company's budget guitar offerings of the period. Despite their cosmetic austerity, Style 17 guitars are still built to the same quality standards as Martin always maintained and are fully professional quality instruments.
The 00-17 has a lightly braced all-mahogany body with only minimal decoration: no binding anywhere, a discreet 5-ply sound hole ring, and small dot fingerboard inlay, a small straight rosewood bridge, and tortoise celluloid pickguard. The tuners are still the riveted gear, flat plate Klusons designed to use minimal material during the war. This guitar listed at $46 in 1948, (without the case) raised to an even $50 in the middle of the year, when 702 were shipped out of Nazareth.
These mahogany-top Martin guitars have generally aged extremely well, especially considering their budget origins. They offer a distinctive crisp ringing tone and are generally considered excellent fingerpicking instruments, this example with the more lightly braced 1940s top especially so. The larger 00-17 also responds nicely to open strumming and records very well, making for an excellent singer-songwriter's instrument. This one has seen decades of use but sounds great, a very friendly guitar and a classic vintage Martin that won't break the bank.
Overall length is 39 1/4 in. (99.7 cm.), 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This is a perhaps slightly scruffy looking in spots but very solid and great sounding old mahogany Martin 00. The original lacquer finish has a decent amount of checking but little of the heavy strumming wear prevalent on many older Martins; the only really notable pick wear is to the lower soundhole rim. The finish overall has dings, dents and scrapes but no large areas worn away. There are a couple of deep dings in the top above the soundhole, and an area of what looks like moisture wear on the back edge of the top. The back of the neck is actually comparatively clean, worn down in a few spots with a few feelable dinks and dents but none of the deep capo wear often found.
The lower treble bout side/back edge shows an old impact area solidly but somewhat sloppily repaired, there is visible glue but no extra wood was patched in. A tiny tight grain split between the upper edge pickguard and the bridge shows no sign of growth, this is very common as celluloid pickguards start to shrink and peel up over time. Other than these the guitar is crack free.
The neck has been reset, and the fingerboard lightly planed with a fairly recent refret; the fingerboard has some noticeable divoting still. The original Kluson tuners have newer buttons installed. The original rosewood bridge has had the most noticeable repair, with the top being slightly lowered and the pin holes being plugged and redrilled. Oddly despite this work the original small maple bridgeplate is fully intact showing no repair or alteration. Internally, all of the braces are still original and intact. There was never a strap button added to the heel. This is a great playing 00 with a bigger, rounder sound than many all-mahogany Martins, a bit ragged but very right living in an old 1960s alligator-grain HSC. Overall Very Good + Condition.