and blues type of utilization. when he died in 1873, the father of america guitar making industry left his family, a thriving business. and at the turn of the 20th century, his grandson frank henry martin, went on to write guitar history. he was the man behind the 1st fixed string guitar, which was a large bodied instrument, but still relatively light. it was the prototype of the western guitar, and frank henry martin calls it the dread not. in 1916, it went into the serial production. and soon became very popular. the idea of calling it a dread not, you know, comes from one of the older martin's was a history buff. and he was really taken with a, a battleship that the british should developed during world war one actually. and i think mr. martin loved the idea of this big powerful ship and the idea that

that it was would crafted to him. it seemed like the perfect name for his large body guitar. the dread not put my 10 guitars on a path to worldwide success. and the legendary d model would become a chosen guitar for the world's most well known musician. then came the 1930 depression. it could have spelled the end for a company like martin, but for a stroke of luck. i then, you know, you have the movie era when the great singing cowboys, like gene autry came along. and, you know, there's gene autry, writing

a stride, a horse heroic character. and he's got a guitar in his hand. and he's singing, which is, you know, kind of crazy cowboys singing, but for the movies it was a great thing. and i think a lot of people sitting in that audience looking at someone like gene autry up on a big screen, holding this gorgeous martin guitar. it's still things begin to click. i want to play guitar. i want to get me one of those guitars like the one the on the gene autry played or the jimmy rogers played. and i think that was the thing that kind of propelled the idea of the martin guitar being something a little special i drawn in half and again, the company began upping output with each and every guitar still being made by hand . the finest woods were used and some instruments were made with mother of pearl

inlaid, but it wasn't long before another world event affected the company. the government came to us and they said, so you know, we have this war and we're going to need to take, ask the majority of the men that you employ to go off and fight. so we hired women didn't miss a beat and you, so i think today in our shop we had many women, guitar and others, but for, for that period, during the war, the vast majority of the guitar brothers were women. we did get out of the business of making arch top guitars because the government came to us and said, we're going to put you on a lots of strategic materials. one of which is spruce, because we need it for airplane wings. and we said ok, here are, these are the top guitars that take a piece of spruce this big to make one guitar top. if you take a piece of spurs that big to make flat tops, you can make 5 or 6. after the war,

production was slow to pick up. but once more, it fell to a musician to help revive the company's fortunes. elvis presley, the king of rock and roll, recorded the famous sessions with his favorite de 18 and the 28th who even had a special leather case made. ah, elvis had his big pink cadillac. when he finally started making money, he went out and bought himself the top of the line, finest. so there was the car, the cadillac, and there was the guitar, the martin guitar, that was the top of the line. by now, martin was the world's leading producer of acoustic guitars. demand had grown so much that by the early 1900 sixty's, there was a waiting list of up to 3 years due to limited capacity.

martin guitars weren't the exclusive domain of the big stars. anyone who played guitar wanted one, especially in the sixty's, when so many rock and roll groups, had a martin front and center and acoustic guitar along side and it influences so many young players. and then of course, a little later you, you get groups like crosby, stills, nash, and young featuring beautiful martin guitars. these kinds of things really drove sales. and really once that made was afoot, i think the martin guitar, the dred not was really well established. i mean, the beatles played martin dread notch, you know, and that makes a big difference. that keeps things going in. i take the broken wings and learn johnny

cash made an interesting comment. we asked him one time, we said, you know, mr. cash, can you give us a quote for our catalog? and he said, i feel safe with a martin this for me. why don't you come to you since you've been out for so long now. really nelson great example. if someone he has one martin guitar and that's the only guitar you ever see him playing is his one martin guitar . and he said, he said if my guitar stopped working, i'm going to retire. and so far it still working in ah,

greg cock is one of america's most famous e guitar. but when he plays acoustic, he always picks up his martin, especially in the recording studio in to me from the very 1st moments of playing guitar market was like the pinnacle of what you aspired to have as an acoustic instrument in the reserves. you know, i go home and look at my record collection. i'd say neil young with a d. 45 in front of that. comes a time record. certainly all the crosby stills and dashed up jimmy page. joe walsh, big joe walsh band and the, the list of them obviously, you know, public or black radiate goes on and on and on, and kind of be the indicative sound of an acoustic instrument that you heard a records like, you know, that's a martin within 2 seconds it was the era of the singer songwriter and they all played a margin with their back to the land movement and yearning for simplicity. they

spearheaded a trend to a more natural approach. the martin guitar fit the bill perfectly. hands made from word without the technical bells and whistles. popularity surged during the $900.00 sixty's. march the 3rd bigger factory still making instruments by hand. in 1971, martin produced almost 23000 guitars annually on meeting the high quality standards. set 140 years earlier in the 69, martin started making d 45. again. they hadn't done it before the war. and soon as i saw when i wanted it, i wanted it and and it sounded spectacular. so i went again to lumber and they had a number of them and i picked the 3 best bottom right in

. ah, in the 980 difficult times again for the martin company. there was more competition than ever before with cheap products flooding the market. martin remain true to with roots sticking to hand made, manufacture and high quality materials. and then there was a new kid on the block. the synthesizer when the disco phrase shed in and people were tinkering with electric pianos that you could get to make all kinds of sounds like acoustic guitar, definitely. in the 1990 s martin developed its 1st backpackers model. it was compact with fantastic sound and easy to carry. perfect for street musicians like

the up and coming young edge here ago. oh, it had a great summer in the back pocket for, for the whole thing. and then i got on the one that looks like a movie, so that it was that it was that and my whole life was stuffed in that case. that was my traveling kit. today. the might in company is america's oldest guitar producer and remains a family business in the 6 generation, the pennsylvania, 500 employees still bills guitars by hand for a company that innovated guitar making and become a hallmark of american tradition. i think america should be very proud of martin

martin to stunning guitar company and they make today still the best guitar in the world. and one cent markets the world's fan always has been a martin guitar story will forever be connected to the name of a german immigrant to hail from saxony ridge, martin. the man who turned a small and fragile got stringed instrument into what it's become today, bigger, louder, more robust and more popular. ah, there's nothing better than just taking it out, sitting on the couch, maybe not even thinking about it. and just picking stuff, whatever happens, whatever comes out, it's very relaxing and comforting. i sleep better at night knowing that i have this guitar in my house. oh,

in. well, she's a she is much less gums and times when i've got something else to do with something that might be kind of annoying me. i just pick up my guitar and lab and suddenly everything is okay. is it just feels like everything's right often. it feels good. cool. there's definitely something magical about it. skied shore and maggie duff on hall is, ah, ah, ah, in the news the news,

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