{"product_id":"c-f-martin-00-17-flat-top-acoustic-guitar-1942-10831","title":"C. F. Martin 00-17 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1942)","description":"C. F. Martin 00-17 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1942), made in Nazareth, PA, serial # 80422, natural lacquer finish, mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is an exceptionally well-preserved Martin 00-17 from very early 1942, one of the first few hundred guitars made in Nazareth that epochal wartime year. The 00-17 was the largest and most expensive of the all-mahogany Martins of the 1940s, which were the company's budget guitar offerings of the period. Despite encroaching wartime austerity, guitars of this period were still built to the same quality standards as Martin always maintained.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 00-17 has a lightly braced all-mahogany body with only minimal decoration: no binding anywhere, a 5-ply sound hole ring, and small dot fingerboard inlay. This guitar still has the pre-war metal truss rod and individual tuners with plastic buttons and fluted baseplates; wartime production changes were still in the future when it was built. Other typical features include a small straight rosewood bridge and tortoise celluloid pickguard. The most important element sonically is the pre-war scalloped bracing, lighter and more finely carved than would become typical in the later 40's and 1950's. The neck on this example is just slightly chunkier than some later wartime Martins, but still slim with a very comfortable soft V profile. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis guitar cost $40 in 1942 (without the case), just raised from $35 a few months before. A total of 375 were shipped that year, and not many will have survived as neatly as this one. The older mahogany-top Martin guitars have generally aged extremely well, especially considering their budget origins. They deliver a distinctive crisp ringing tone, in this 00 size affording more depth and bass response than smaller bodied 0-size models. They are generally considered excellent fingerpicking instruments, this example with the scallop-braced 1940s top especially so. The 00-17 records very well in any style and also makes for an excellent singer-songwriter's instrument as bot a stage and studio guitar. this is a truly sublime early example of a classic vintage Martin that won't break the bank.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOverall length is 38 13\/16 in. (98.6 cm.), 14 1\/4 in. (36.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3\/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11\/16 in. (43 mm.). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow 80 years old, this 00-17 has been kept in truly exceptional shape, one of the cleanest wartime guitars we have seen in a long time. The original lacquer finish shows light checking on the body but looks virtually untouched, save for a few light dings and scratches around the perimeter of the top and back. The back of the neck has only a couple of tint y marks on it. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are NO cracks anywhere on the instrument, which is kind of amazing! The neck has been cleanly reset and refretted with a new bone nut and wire comparable to period Martin spec. The original bridge has been neatly reglued, and fitted with a new bone saddle in the traditional style. Internally all of the original bracing and small maple bridge plate remain untouched; the artful delicately sculpted braces are really a thing of beauty. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is another great playing and lovely sounding Wartime mahogany Martin, proof that the boys in Nazareth never let their standards slip, even in the most trying of times. The guitar plays extremely well with a huge sound for a smaller all-mahogany instrument and is housed in a modern hardshell case. Excellent + Condition.","brand":"C. F. Martin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853420056716,"sku":"10831","price":7950.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0672\/8702\/3756\/files\/01_bccbc729-7e16-44c7-b3e8-c5c21fab4913.jpg?v=1774338327","url":"https:\/\/retrofret.com\/products\/c-f-martin-00-17-flat-top-acoustic-guitar-1942-10831","provider":"RetroFret","version":"1.0","type":"link"}