1934 Martin 0-17 Flattop Guitar

How about these apples? This beaut is a '34 0-17 of the "chocolate Martin" variety. It sounds sing-song and full despite its mahogany top and has a good, woody, strong, velvety-mids voicing. Fingerpickers and flatpickers both will love the way this one handles. Some good work was done on it in the past and so it arrived here just needing a glorified setup. It's now playing bang-on and is ready to service.

Many '30s Martins are built quite light and so need a little more maintenance to keep them in perfect running order season to season. The mahogany-top models are built with the same lightweight bracing but because the top is a bit stiffer than spruce they actually handle closer to later-era Martins in that they're a little more stable and forgiving for the knockabout life. It makes them an ideal grab for a guitarist who wants a grand old Martin sound and feel but doesn't want to have to fuss with it much.

This one is lovely and that's about it!

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, setup, saddle tweaking, cleaning, and restring. It's had a neck reset, board plane and refret, and repro bridge fit to it in the past.

Weight: 3 lbs 6 oz

Scale length: 24 13/16"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Neck shape: medium-full soft V

Board radius: 12" (seems to have been planed to 12 before a refret)

Body width: 13 5/8"

Body depth: 4 1/4"

Top wood: solid mahogany

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x

Bridge: rosewood (replacement, nice quality)

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 52w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12 custom set

Truss rod: nonadjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-modern

Condition notes: while this guitar is overall in excellent shape, it has either been refinished fully in the past or oversprayed quite a while ago. There are marks of usewear/scratches under the current topcoat but it was definitely altered at some point in time so I expect they're the last evidence of the finish under the current topcoat. I've taken some photos in glare to show what I mean. The effect is good, however, as it looks rather like an early-'50s Martin 0-15 or 0-17 in style and wear and tear to the finish. The tuners are replacements but are high-quality, higher-ratio modern aged Waverly units similar to what would have been on it when it was new. The bridge is a replacement but accurately-made and beautifully-cut. The fretboard was planed and refretted with modern medium stock at some point but they were not quite level. We leveled and dressed them before setup. The only crack I can find is a tiny hairline below the bass bridge wing on the top -- and it's glued-up and all good to go.

It comes with: a nice modern hard case.