c.1957 Martin 5-15T Tenor Guitar

Did I mention I love 50s Martins? They're not as glamorous as pre-war Martins... but they sure are practical. And they sound great, too. This is the smaller offering in Martin's tenor line -- its big brother in the same outfit being the O-15T, with a wider and bigger body. The 5-15T (this fellow) has the smaller, "terz" guitar body shape, which gives it a mellower, more "12 fret" sounding tone, and of course... fits conveniently in your lap on couches and stores well on airplanes. Very... practical!

This guitar does well in the GDAE octave mandolin tuning ("Celtic" tuning for those in the know) I have it setup in, with big, balanced, warm tone. Specs on the guitar are... solid mahogany everywhere, save a rosewood fretboard and bridge. This guitar happens to be original except for a new rosewood end pin and a set of old celluloid (I think) black bridge pins I had in my parts bins (the original plastic pegs are of course still with the guitar, but pretty worse for wear).

Work included regluing the original bridge, seam reglues on the lower bout, cleaning, a fret dress, and setup. Action's nice and easy.

Nice, simple dots... and side dots, too.

Gotta love that old-style original pickguard. The finish is very weather-crackled but all there, except on the back, where it had been worn off on the lower bout. I sealed the bare area, however, to protect it.

Nice original bridge. Saddle was shaved at one point, but is still nice and serviceable.

You can see that roughed-up finish on the lower bout. When I repaired the open seams in the same area, I sealed the roughed-up part with a couple coats of finish to "keep the weather out."

Original tuners work just fine.


Good neck set.

Update 2014: I noticed this was for sale over at Grpyhon and I was trying to update a portion of this post to elaborate and lost the last 1/3 of it! If anyone has the old pics, please let me know.