C. F. Martin 0-18T Model Flat Top Tenor Guitar (1943), made in Nazareth, PA, serial # 85040, natural lacquer finish, mahogany back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black chipboard case.
Martin's 0-18T is almost certainly the most popular pro-grade tenor guitar ever made, and this is a fine playing, featherweight example from the WWII era. Typical features include the Adirondack spruce top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood belly bridge and fingerboard, teardrop celluloid pickguard, and 14 fret 23" scale neck. The Brazilian-rosewood-faced headstock has a small "C. F. Martin" decal logo and the distinctive wartime open back Kluson tuners with riveted gears.
This rare wartime 0-18T was built 1943, the middle of the WWII years when only 12 of these shipped out at a $45 list price. While designed in the late 1920s for tenor banjoists getting pushed out of work by the mellower toned guitar, tenor guitars were popular in a number of genres and have a range of sonic possibilities still not fully explored. Rabon Delmore used small tenor Martin models including the 0-18T to play the deftly picked leads that characterize the Delmore Brothers' music, and many others have explored them since. This is a cool played-in but original 0-18T with a bright ringing tone and a very supple action.
Overall length is 35 3/4 in. (90.8 cm.), 13 5/8 in. (34.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/16 in. (10.3 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 23 in. (584 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/4 in. (32 mm.). This is a nice playing example, built noticeably lighter than the more common 1950s and '60s examples with a livelier, more resonant sound. The original finish has dings, dents and scrapes overall with some heavier pickwear around and in front of the pickguard and belt buckle scraping on the back. The top shows some deeper dings, scrapes and "case lid bites" but nothing too extreme. The back of the neck has surprisingly much lighter wear.
There are two very small sealed grain splits in the typical spot off the top edge of the pickguard and a larger ancient crack on the lower back, which is sealed up but a fairly sloppy old repair. The neck has been reset, the frets have some wear spots in the lower positions but still play well. In general this is a well-used guitar but an excellent player, a cool rare-period example of this small Martin classic; a 4-string for the ages. It lives in what appears to be the original 1940s chipboard case, which is sized for a 6-string guitar (it's likely Martin was not stocking special cases for this tiny run of tenors during the war!). Very Good + Condition.
