1961 Martin 0-16NYL Lefty Guitar

Guitar-finding adventurer Mike Brown found this factory original Martin 0-16NY (marked 0-16NYL at the block) in one of his travels and, as a lefty player, he was through the roof with excitement about it. Unfortunately, it needed a bit of work -- but fortunately, it was in overall good shape.

I reset the neck just a bit, had to reglue the whole fretboard (and, of course, take it off as it was 1/3 of the way off and twisted when it arrived -- thankfully I have one of those LMII heater gadgets), level and dress the frets, replace a cracked bridge (with a '30s-style, drop-in-saddle interpretation of the design that I whipped-up), and set it up. I think there were a few small cracks to address as well, but Mike had done a heap of cleaning before he got here with it.

Suffice to say, it sounds tremendously-good. Like all of these 0-16NY models, you need to use really light steel on them (as you would on a '30s Martin), but you're rewarded for it by one of the sweetest-sounding fingerpicking designs in production. These also have the tougher and stiffer necks of latter-era Martins (they have a steel T-bar in them) and so, while the body is built in '30s fashion, the stiffer neck gives them a bit better/faster response and sustain, I think. I am a fan of non-adustable, heavy-duty steel in necks...

Anyhow, per the usual, it's solid spruce over solid mahogany, scalloped-x-braced, and has a rosewood board and bridge with the old-fashioned, wider nut feel and shallower soft-V neck profile (as I recall). It was obviously played a ton and has lots of surface wear and tear, but I think it looks fabulous.