1990 Martin 000-16
This was my first Martin guitar. Back in 1990 it ran $900 brand new. It was all I could afford at the time but the simplicity of the build (I'm not one for fancy trimmings) and the rich tone was all I needed. So you can imagine my surprise when a friend of mine told me that this guitar was a pretty special breed. Seems that the folks at Martin decided to experiment by putting forward, scalloped bracing on a 000-16 model, just to see what that body size was capable of. In '89 they built 4 of them and the results were so astounding that in '90 they built 400 more but by '93 they discontinued them.
The guitar has mahogany back and sides with a spruce top and has seen MANY miles since. It was broken once (the side was cracked) but repaired nicely and the tuners were replaced with Grovers. Fwd shifted, scalloped X brace, dovetail neck joint, Sitka on mahogany, diamond and squares neck inlays, tortoise bindings/pickguard, 25.4" scale and 1 11/16" nut.
One of the gigs I used this on was in Memphis where I was part of a tribute show to the late Howlin' Wolf. That's where I met Humbert Sumlin, Wolf's guitarist. If you look closely at one of the pictures you'll see Hubert Sumlin's autograph!!
At the bottom of the page I've included a video of me playing it.
The guitar has mahogany back and sides with a spruce top and has seen MANY miles since. It was broken once (the side was cracked) but repaired nicely and the tuners were replaced with Grovers. Fwd shifted, scalloped X brace, dovetail neck joint, Sitka on mahogany, diamond and squares neck inlays, tortoise bindings/pickguard, 25.4" scale and 1 11/16" nut.
One of the gigs I used this on was in Memphis where I was part of a tribute show to the late Howlin' Wolf. That's where I met Humbert Sumlin, Wolf's guitarist. If you look closely at one of the pictures you'll see Hubert Sumlin's autograph!!
At the bottom of the page I've included a video of me playing it.
