C. F. Martin 00-18 Owned by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1963), made in Nazareth, PA, serial # 189814, natural lacquer finish, mahogany body and neck, spruce top, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard and bridge, black hard shell case.
This very nice 1963 00-18 is another former denizen of the Wilco loft, a super friendly guitar all around. This typical "Folk Era" grand concert model was built the year before Martin's move to a new larger factory led to a host of production changes. 1963 was the last full year of production in Martin's old North Street shop which had been gradually overwhelmed by demand for the company's products. Martin's new factory allowed them to ramp up production dramatically, but the guitars were no longer built in the same way as they had been for the previous century and underwent a host of changes over the next few years.
This 00-18 still pre-dates all that and retains the classic older style features; the mahogany body has an X-braced spruce top with the "long saddle" rosewood belly bridge and the tortoise celluloid outer binding and pickguard. The mahogany neck has a fairly shallow profile with a lot of dress-away on the sides but not a full "V", topped with an unbound dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard. The tuners are individual Grover Sta-Tites mounted on the typical '60s rounded-edge headstock. It is more lightly constructed than later '60s examples and has a very lively sound.
A total of 603 00-18s were shipped in 1963, priced at $164.50, plus case. At the time the large Dreadnoughts were becoming ever more popular, already starting to eclipse the 0 and 00 sized flat tops in sales. These days the smaller Martins are once again more appreciated and have experienced a renaissance among players of many styles. This mahogany 00 is one of Martin's most versatile designs equally at home fingerpicking ragtime and blues, as a strummer's songwriting and recording mainstay, leading a band onstage with a pickup added or just the perfect couch guitar.
Overall length is 39 3/8 in. (100 cm.), 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/8 in. (10.5 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.).
This is a very nice little guitar, showing evidence of light use but really quite well preserved for its 63 years on Earth. There is fairly minimal play wear overall and just some typical maintenance repairs. The original lacquer finish pretty much still shines like it did in the '60s, though the color has ambered somewhat on the top. There are small scuffs and dings overall and a bit of scuffing to the top and pickwear around the soundhole rim but really not a lot of evidence the guitar was played all that much.
The celluloid pickguard pulled up along its lower edge, causing a decent sized grain split to the top just above the waist, sealed with some fill and a large cleat underneath but still visible. The top has a light overspray over this repair area below and on either side of the pickguard. There are no other cracks on the instrument.
The guitar has had a very neatly done neck set, with what appears to be a new bone saddle set into the original rosewood bridge. This has been reglued, and topically lowered just a hair along bass & treble sides. Internally the original braces and small maple bridgeplate are fully intact.
The original frets have been crowned down with little subsequent wear, the bone nut is original and the fingerboard is very clean. The endpin hole was once drilled out for endpin jack, it is now plugged with a stopper; a strap button was added along the treble side of heel. A Wilco loft tape marking on the back of the headstock reads "ERNEST" indicating this was possibly a performance guitar at some point. This is a sweet player with a lovely sound happily residing in a modern HSC with the typical Wilco loft markings along the base. Excellent - Condition.
