C. F. Martin 2-17 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1930)
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C. F. Martin 2-17 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1930), made in Nazareth, PA, serial # 41855, natural mahogany finish, mahogany body and neck, ebony fingerboard, black hard shell case.
The 2-17 is a small and rather unassuming guitar, but as Martin's first dedicated steel-string model it helped change the course of the company's history. Until the early 1920s, the C. F. Martin Company considered gut-strung guitars the norm, with steel stringing a cheap and somewhat low-class anomaly. The popularity of Jazz and Hawaiian styles made this a very redundant strategy, and in 1922 the all-mahogany 2-17 was introduced with steel strings as the standard appointment. It was a low budget guitar, in keeping with the concept that only cheap players used steel strings!
The 2-17 is very basic, with all mahogany construction and minimal appointments. After 1929 (by which time nearly all Martins came strung with steel) it was made more basic still by eliminating even the discreet rosewood bindings on the edges. This allowed the previously $32.50 guitar to be sold for $25, which was a paltry sum for a Martin, but actually still a fairly expensive guitar at the time. You could get a pearl-trimmed rosewood instrument from Sears for not too much more! The minimal appointments include a plain straight bridge and small-dot inlaid fingerboard of rosewood, all else being mahogany.
The 2-17 was the right guitar at the right time, a Martin mainstay through the early years of the Depression. This one was made in 1930, just as the US economy was collapsing and many instrument makers were scrambling to survive. It is one of the last of the "Old Model" bound-top-and-back $32.50 2-17s, of which 449 were shipped this year. It shows only fairly light wear and remains a fine playing and sounding example with a sparkly tone and a surprising power and depth for its diminutive body.
The 2-17 is most associated with Jimmy Rodgers, who played one at the beginning of his career before his Victor records successes enabled him to purchase the considerably more costly Custom 000-45 that became his trademark! Within a few years this small mahogany guitar would be completely supplanted by the larger 0-17, leaving this model redolent of a certain era of Martin and a lovely playable piece of history.
Overall length is 37 in. (94 cm.), 12 1/4 in. (31.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/8 in. (619 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This is a lovely example of this no-frills model, in above-average condition for 90+ years along. The all original finish shows some scratches, dings and nicks on the body but no serious play wear, just some pick marks to the top below the soundhole. The back of the neck is very clean with only a few shallow dings.
The guitar has a number of cleanly done repairs including a neck reset, and heat press to straighten the fingerboard. The original bar frets have been trued for maximum playability. There is only one crack repair, a split to the top running under bridge on bass side that has been sealed with no overfinish.
The original rosewood bridge has been reglued and appears to have been lowered just a hair long ago. There is a small crack repair to the bridge between low E and the G bridge pin holes, just behind the saddle, which is a replacement. New unslotted bridge pins have been fitted as well. The delicate original scalloped braces and small maple bridgeplate are intact and unaltered. This is a lovely player with a powerful sound for a small instrument, a superb survivor of the early depression era housed in a modern HSC. Overall Excellent - Condition.
The 2-17 is a small and rather unassuming guitar, but as Martin's first dedicated steel-string model it helped change the course of the company's history. Until the early 1920s, the C. F. Martin Company considered gut-strung guitars the norm, with steel stringing a cheap and somewhat low-class anomaly. The popularity of Jazz and Hawaiian styles made this a very redundant strategy, and in 1922 the all-mahogany 2-17 was introduced with steel strings as the standard appointment. It was a low budget guitar, in keeping with the concept that only cheap players used steel strings!
The 2-17 is very basic, with all mahogany construction and minimal appointments. After 1929 (by which time nearly all Martins came strung with steel) it was made more basic still by eliminating even the discreet rosewood bindings on the edges. This allowed the previously $32.50 guitar to be sold for $25, which was a paltry sum for a Martin, but actually still a fairly expensive guitar at the time. You could get a pearl-trimmed rosewood instrument from Sears for not too much more! The minimal appointments include a plain straight bridge and small-dot inlaid fingerboard of rosewood, all else being mahogany.
The 2-17 was the right guitar at the right time, a Martin mainstay through the early years of the Depression. This one was made in 1930, just as the US economy was collapsing and many instrument makers were scrambling to survive. It is one of the last of the "Old Model" bound-top-and-back $32.50 2-17s, of which 449 were shipped this year. It shows only fairly light wear and remains a fine playing and sounding example with a sparkly tone and a surprising power and depth for its diminutive body.
The 2-17 is most associated with Jimmy Rodgers, who played one at the beginning of his career before his Victor records successes enabled him to purchase the considerably more costly Custom 000-45 that became his trademark! Within a few years this small mahogany guitar would be completely supplanted by the larger 0-17, leaving this model redolent of a certain era of Martin and a lovely playable piece of history.
Overall length is 37 in. (94 cm.), 12 1/4 in. (31.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/8 in. (619 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This is a lovely example of this no-frills model, in above-average condition for 90+ years along. The all original finish shows some scratches, dings and nicks on the body but no serious play wear, just some pick marks to the top below the soundhole. The back of the neck is very clean with only a few shallow dings.
The guitar has a number of cleanly done repairs including a neck reset, and heat press to straighten the fingerboard. The original bar frets have been trued for maximum playability. There is only one crack repair, a split to the top running under bridge on bass side that has been sealed with no overfinish.
The original rosewood bridge has been reglued and appears to have been lowered just a hair long ago. There is a small crack repair to the bridge between low E and the G bridge pin holes, just behind the saddle, which is a replacement. New unslotted bridge pins have been fitted as well. The delicate original scalloped braces and small maple bridgeplate are intact and unaltered. This is a lovely player with a powerful sound for a small instrument, a superb survivor of the early depression era housed in a modern HSC. Overall Excellent - Condition.