C. F. Martin 00-17 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1946)
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Item # 9373
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C. F. Martin 00-17 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1946), made in Nazareth, PA, serial # 96705, natural lacquer finish, Mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard, black chipboard case.
This is a well-played just post-war Martin 00-17 from 1946, just about hitting its 74th 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. This guitar cost (poetically enough) $46 in 1946 without the case, and an even 600 were shipped that year.
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 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 wear and repair but sounds great, a very friendly guitar and a classic vintage Martin that won't break the bank.
Overall length is 38 13/16 in. (98.6 cm.), 14 1/4 in. (36.2 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 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This is a well-used, slightly scruffy but great sounding and playing old mahogany Martin 00, a "real relic" in the best sense. The top finish does not show the heavy strumming wear prevalent on many older Martins but has many small dings, scrapes and areas of checking and micro-flaking; it is possible it was stored in a damp area long ago. There is a bare spot on the top in the typical spot from armwear action on the lower bass bout. The back has been refinished in a non-professional manner, although it really does not look too bad the finish is a bit rough allowing a lot of open grain to show through.
The guitar shows a decent amount of work done over the years. The original rosewood bridge has been cut down, but there is still plenty of saddle. The original small maple bridgeplate has been neatly patched through the pinholes with small round maple pieces to reinforce them without adding any weight or additional material. The neck has been reset with a good angle and the action is very comfortable.
There is a cleanly repaired crack through the heel that is inconspicuous, pretty much disguised by a light overspray in that area, and a strap button added there as well. There is one mahogany grain crack to the top behind the treble wing of the bridge, running down to the back edge. This has been solidly sealed but not finished over. The finish on the back of the neck is heavily worn down but there are very few of the common dents and scrapes, it is quite smooth and comfortable to play.
The tuners are more recent Waverly branded units with plastic buttons, a nod to the original wartime-style Klusons that are long gone. The fingerboard looks to have been trued and refretted some time back, and shows light wear accumulated since. There is some very light divoting to the board but nothing that affects playability.
There is an endpin jack installed and an older 3-dot pickup attached under the bridgeplate that works fine although not state of the art today. It does give the guitar a good amplifiable sound easily tweaked with outboard gear for most performance situations. Overall this is another well-used "Ragged but Right" Martin that wears its nearly 75 years proudly and sounds fabulous, offering a bright ringing tone with plenty of depth underneath. Very Good + Condition.
This is a well-played just post-war Martin 00-17 from 1946, just about hitting its 74th 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. This guitar cost (poetically enough) $46 in 1946 without the case, and an even 600 were shipped that year.
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 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 wear and repair but sounds great, a very friendly guitar and a classic vintage Martin that won't break the bank.
Overall length is 38 13/16 in. (98.6 cm.), 14 1/4 in. (36.2 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 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This is a well-used, slightly scruffy but great sounding and playing old mahogany Martin 00, a "real relic" in the best sense. The top finish does not show the heavy strumming wear prevalent on many older Martins but has many small dings, scrapes and areas of checking and micro-flaking; it is possible it was stored in a damp area long ago. There is a bare spot on the top in the typical spot from armwear action on the lower bass bout. The back has been refinished in a non-professional manner, although it really does not look too bad the finish is a bit rough allowing a lot of open grain to show through.
The guitar shows a decent amount of work done over the years. The original rosewood bridge has been cut down, but there is still plenty of saddle. The original small maple bridgeplate has been neatly patched through the pinholes with small round maple pieces to reinforce them without adding any weight or additional material. The neck has been reset with a good angle and the action is very comfortable.
There is a cleanly repaired crack through the heel that is inconspicuous, pretty much disguised by a light overspray in that area, and a strap button added there as well. There is one mahogany grain crack to the top behind the treble wing of the bridge, running down to the back edge. This has been solidly sealed but not finished over. The finish on the back of the neck is heavily worn down but there are very few of the common dents and scrapes, it is quite smooth and comfortable to play.
The tuners are more recent Waverly branded units with plastic buttons, a nod to the original wartime-style Klusons that are long gone. The fingerboard looks to have been trued and refretted some time back, and shows light wear accumulated since. There is some very light divoting to the board but nothing that affects playability.
There is an endpin jack installed and an older 3-dot pickup attached under the bridgeplate that works fine although not state of the art today. It does give the guitar a good amplifiable sound easily tweaked with outboard gear for most performance situations. Overall this is another well-used "Ragged but Right" Martin that wears its nearly 75 years proudly and sounds fabulous, offering a bright ringing tone with plenty of depth underneath. Very Good + Condition.