1972 Martin 0-18 Flattop Guitar

This is a consignor's 0-18 that local friends are picking-up for their own use. It's a lovely guitar with warmth and punch and, to be frank, I don't think there's that huge a difference in general tone and feel between 0-18s from the tail end of the '50s through the '70s. The internal design just does not change that much compared with the dreadnoughts. The difference to me with them is just that the older ones have more playtime in them so they sound, generally, more opened-up and rich -- but if you get lightly-played examples of any of these models from that timeframe they're remarkably similar guitar to guitar.

It had some work done on it in the past, mostly by way of an overset neck and extra-tall saddle. It was quite the bugbear removing the neck and resetting it at a proper angle, too. I wound-up having to put a new, repro-style bridge on it as well (I tried to match the grain as well as I could with the fretboard) because the original one had split along the saddle's front wall just enough that I could tell it was going to collapse soon. The saddle itself was leaning forward precariously because of it. Extra tall saddle + more leverage against that front wall + weak front edge on a Martin bridge wall anyway = trouble!

Suffice to say, this one turned-out great. The only thing I might change with it would be to swap-out the Rotomatic tuners for something like the 18:1 Grover Sta-Tites with open backs to cut down on weight. Between those Rotomatics and the big square steel truss rod in the necks from this era, it's a little neck-heavy.