C. F. Martin 0-18T Flat Top Tenor Guitar (1959)
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C. F. Martin 0-18T Model Flat Top Tenor Guitar (1959), made in Nazareth, PA, serial # 166829, natural lacquer finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, original grey chipboard case.
The Martin 0-18T is one of the finest and most popular tenor guitars ever made, a lovely and well-balanced design. This is a truly superb example from the watershed year of the "folk" era when the 1960's boom in acoustic instruments really took off. The Kingston Trio hit BIG in 1958-9, and an 0-18T was along for the ride in the hands of group member Nick Reynolds. It still was not an immediate windfall for Martin; in 1959 all of 125 were shipped but still that was up from up from 50 the year before! Over the next few years many folk groups who emulated the Trio's sound wanted one in their arsenal and the model definitely had a boost in popularity for a few years.
The 0-18T shows typical period Martin features including a spruce top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood belly bridge and fingerboard, teardrop celluloid pickguard and 14 fret 23" scale neck. The Brazilian rosewood-faced headstock has a small "C. F. Martin" decal logo and open back Grover Sta-Tite tuners. The spruce top on this guitar has a pronounced "bearclaw" figure and some interesting and attractive graining; at the time Martin would have seen this wood as "flawed" and so used it on this small tenor. Today it would be a premium spruce selection with a price uptick!
Designed in the late 1920s for tenor banjoists getting pushed out of work by the preference for the guitar, tenor guitars like this 0-18T have a range of possibilities to this day still not fully explored. Long before the Kingston Trio exposure in the 1930's Rabon Delmore used small tenor Martin models including the 0-18T to play deftly picked leads on the Delmore Brothers' records, and many others have explored them since. The Martin tenor has enjoyed several upswings in popularity over the years; this is quite the nicest post-WWII example we have had.
Overall length is 35 1/2 in. (90.2 cm.), 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 23 in. (584 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/4 in. (32 mm.).
This is a super example of this little Martin, perfectly original and showing only some light wear for its 60+ years. The finish has checking and a few small dings and dents but apart from a slightly chewed-up spot on the lower soundhole edge and one small fingerboard divot in the first position no real play wear to speak of.
Internally it is very clean, with one small (possible factory) diamond cleat behind the small maple bridgplate that has no visible purpose as there are no cracks anywhere. The instrument plays and sounds fantastic with a very big tone for a small 4-string guitar. It is complete in its original grey chipboard case, a delightful time package from the beginning of the Folk boom and the last year of Ike in the White House! Overall Excellent Condition.
The Martin 0-18T is one of the finest and most popular tenor guitars ever made, a lovely and well-balanced design. This is a truly superb example from the watershed year of the "folk" era when the 1960's boom in acoustic instruments really took off. The Kingston Trio hit BIG in 1958-9, and an 0-18T was along for the ride in the hands of group member Nick Reynolds. It still was not an immediate windfall for Martin; in 1959 all of 125 were shipped but still that was up from up from 50 the year before! Over the next few years many folk groups who emulated the Trio's sound wanted one in their arsenal and the model definitely had a boost in popularity for a few years.
The 0-18T shows typical period Martin features including a spruce top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood belly bridge and fingerboard, teardrop celluloid pickguard and 14 fret 23" scale neck. The Brazilian rosewood-faced headstock has a small "C. F. Martin" decal logo and open back Grover Sta-Tite tuners. The spruce top on this guitar has a pronounced "bearclaw" figure and some interesting and attractive graining; at the time Martin would have seen this wood as "flawed" and so used it on this small tenor. Today it would be a premium spruce selection with a price uptick!
Designed in the late 1920s for tenor banjoists getting pushed out of work by the preference for the guitar, tenor guitars like this 0-18T have a range of possibilities to this day still not fully explored. Long before the Kingston Trio exposure in the 1930's Rabon Delmore used small tenor Martin models including the 0-18T to play deftly picked leads on the Delmore Brothers' records, and many others have explored them since. The Martin tenor has enjoyed several upswings in popularity over the years; this is quite the nicest post-WWII example we have had.
Overall length is 35 1/2 in. (90.2 cm.), 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 23 in. (584 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/4 in. (32 mm.).
This is a super example of this little Martin, perfectly original and showing only some light wear for its 60+ years. The finish has checking and a few small dings and dents but apart from a slightly chewed-up spot on the lower soundhole edge and one small fingerboard divot in the first position no real play wear to speak of.
Internally it is very clean, with one small (possible factory) diamond cleat behind the small maple bridgplate that has no visible purpose as there are no cracks anywhere. The instrument plays and sounds fantastic with a very big tone for a small 4-string guitar. It is complete in its original grey chipboard case, a delightful time package from the beginning of the Folk boom and the last year of Ike in the White House! Overall Excellent Condition.