This incredible guitar is a vintage Martin 00 built in 1917. This guitar was acquired from the family of the original owner who bought it in 1918. What is unique about this guitar is that it was a special-ordered 00 with 40-style appointments and koa for the back and sides, braced and strung up for Hawaiian-style playing. This information was all provided from an included letter from Martin dated 1968, where Martin informed the owner that they shipped this special-order 00 in February of 1918 to a shop named Kohler and Chase in San Francisco.
When The Music Zoo acquired the guitar, it was in need of service to bring it back to life, and we had the Martin Custom Shop do the work. There are two top-cracks which have been glued and cleated internally. It received a new fretboard and frets along with a new pyramid bridge, saddle and nut to give it a standard modern action. The guitar is currently strung up with nylon strings tuned to D-standard, but even with the original fan bracing you could use a very light gauge of steel strings if you wanted to. The neck has light lacquer haze on it, and the body still has a medium amount of dents and scratches but nothing structural. It's an incredible piece of Martin history, one which we recreated with a short run of Custom Shop instruments in 2022. It includes a coffin-style hardshell case and the aforementioned letter from Martin which was written in 1968.
Includes: Hardshell Case and Letter of Authenticity from Martin