1954 Martin 000-18 Flattop Guitar

Alright, so this guitar is one year away from my favorite Martin year -- 1953 -- but it does handle and sound like a '53 so I'm not going to knock it. The top appears to be Adirondack (nice and red under the extension) on this guy and current lore suggests that the wood in this top was logged not even 10 minutes up the road in Hancock, VT. How about that?

Clearly, this instrument is a grizzled veteran and shows all sorts of minor wear and tear throughout. It is, however, all-original save pins and new bone saddle and it sounds like how you'd expect it to -- excellent. It's warm and full in the mids and lower-mids and has that velvety upper-mids, treble-creaminess that you want out of a '50s Martin. While the bracing is "straight" under the hood, it's still got the smaller bridge plate and lighter cut to the braces so it responds to the lightest touch. It's an adaptable sound, too -- stick the mic in the right place and it'll appeal to bluegrassers, folkies, old-time guys, or old-country strummers.

I had to do a bunch of work on it but it's now playing bang-on, has a tall saddle for later adjustment as needed, and is ready to roll.

Repairs included: a neck reset, various hairline crack repairs to the top and back, bridge reglue, fret level/dress, mod of the saddle slot into a drop-in slot (though it's disguised as a through-saddle slot), and setup.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12 custom lights (regular lights fine, too)

Neck shape: medium C/V

Board radius: ~14"

Truss rod: non-adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-lower

Scale length: 24 7/8"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

Body width: 15"

Body depth: 4 1/8"

Weight: 3 lbs 12 oz

Condition notes: it has a number of repaired/filled hairline cracks on the top and back and I've shot some "glared" photos to give you an idea -- most are not truly very long and terminate at bracing, though I've cleated them anyhow. ALSO, the headstock has a repaired crack that runs through the bass-side tuner shaft-holes. It's stable and I keep forgetting it's there.

Also: the saddle is new bone and compensated. I changed the saddle slot into a disguised drop-in slot because drop-in ones are much more stable and don't lean when you've got a taller saddle in place as in this case. The fretboard extension dips slightly away from the rest of the board but that's not an issue playability-wise, really. The finish is all-original but it's definitely been scratched-up all over the place and is not clean. It looks like a warrior!

It comes with: a good-quality, hard, brown Taylor case.