C. F. Martin 000-21 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1947)
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Item #8813
C. F. Martin 000-21 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1947), made in Nazareth, PA, serial # 100139, natural lacquer finish, Brazilian rosewood back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case.
This instrument is a supremely well-worn old Martin, as one look will tell you. "Well-played" does not even begin to describe this guitar�"played for a lifetime" is more like it. It is a just-postwar Martin 000-21 made in early 1947, and boy has it seen a LOT of use since! This was the 139th guitar made after Martin passed the 100,000 serial number mark, which was probably just a business as usual day at the very staid and conservative Nazareth PA factory. While a post-WWII guitar this 000 still has an older look as it retains the traditional herringbone backstrip, a feature then disappearing from Martin's instruments. The last remaining 'bone' trim was used up like this on the back Style 21's after disappearing from the tops of the Style 28's.
The Auditorium sized 000-21 was never a very common guitar, 1947 was actually the peak production year for the model with 223 shipped. At the time it was the largest Style 21 instrument offered; a Dreadnought D-21 was not issued until the mid-1950's. Style 21's are built with the same materials as the more celebrated Style 28, just with less elaborate trim. The Brazilian rosewood back and sides have a nice fairly bold and straight grain figure.
Other features include a pearl dot inlaid rosewood fingerboard, multiple top and back binding with a tortoise Celluloid outer layer, B/W/B soundhole rings and a tortoise pattern Celluloid pickguard. Like many guitars of this period it also shows a slightly deeper neck profile (for a Martin) compared to the previous thin wartime necks, with a comfortable contour showing just the slightest hint of a "V". This guitar is fitted with the earliest examples of the enclosed Kluson Deluxe tuning machines we have ever seen; these are not generally supposed to have been available until a year or so later but they are definitely original to this guitar, nothing else has ever been mounted.
The 000-21 is a great sounding guitar equally at home with for finger- or flatpicking in virtually any style of music. A quick look will attest to just how much at least a couple of generations of players have enjoyed playing this one, there would appear to be hundreds if not thousands of hours of pickin' and strummin' invested here. With a neck reset and new frets this old hoss still plays with the best of 'em, and sounds spectacular. If ever an old Martin could be described as "Ragged but Right" it's this one!
Overall length is 40 in. (101.6 cm.), 15 1/4 in. (38.7 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.).
OK, this is not your "clean" Martin here. In an era of artificially aged and relic'ed pseudo-vintage guitars this is about as genuine a fretted relic as you can get. This guitar has been PLAYED, put away wet, and then played some more. For years, decades even. It's pretty much pointless to describe every spot of wear, essentially the entire instrument has wear of some sort! Still, considering the use it has seen the guitar has surprisingly little in the way of cracks or damage. It "Took a lickin' and kept on tickin'" as the old Timex ad went. Martin claimed to build their guitars for "a lifetime of use" and that's exactly what this 000-21 has had.
The top shows extensive pickwear through the lacquer and into the wood on both sides of the strings, and all around the pickguard. These areas are quite well aged and oxidized and this epic strumwear looks to have been inflicted long ago. There are no "Willie Nelson" spots (completely through the top) but the wear is fairly deep below the lower edge of the pickguard and a part of the lower soundhole rim is worn away right to the celluloid ring. The lacquer on the top has aged to a deep amber hue. There are dings, dents and scrapes over the entire guitar, and a few marks from a tailpiece fitted and then removed long ago.
There is some fairly deep wear and digs into the wood around the perimeter of the bridge and we have to assume several bridges have been on and off over the years. The one now fitted is an excellent full-height reproduction. The small maple bridgeplate remains original. The original dark tortoise Celluloid pickguard has also survived surprisingly well. The finish on the back and sides has numerous dings, dents and worn away spots but nothing as heavy as the top. The back has some tiny dots of what appears to be white paint scattered about.
The top has a repaired spruce grain crack in the typical spot at the upper edge of the pickguard, and another on the lower treble bout both solidly sealed up. Internally a couple of the forward braces appear to have been reglued to the top with hide glue long ago but none of the bracing has bee broken or cracked and the top remains completely solid with no distortion. There are several lines in the spruce on the top edge of the lower bout that look like old cracks but do not go through to the inside. Through some sort of miracle the rosewood back and sides have no cracks at all.
The back of the neck is fairly well worn down to the bare wood with some dings, dents and capo wear spots but nothing too deep. The most noticeable dent is on the treble side between the nut and first fret. The headstock has the back edge worn down but otherwise is comparatively clean. The original Kluson Deluxe tuners are still intact and functional, somehow never replaced despite decades of use.
The fingerboard has been trued and refretted with period correct wire and the neck neatly reset so playability is excellent. With a guitar this played in the spirit of the instrument seems infused with the memories of the people who played it. Obviously this is not a "clean freak's" guitar, but we don't think we've ever had a cooler gigging 1940's rosewood 000 in stock. Like the bedraggled hound dog rescued from the rain, this guitar amply rewards a little love with a fantastic volley of sound, singing with the deep ringing tone colored by decades of play. We don't know the stories behind it, but we can promise this venerable Martin still has many more to tell. Very Good Condition.
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This instrument is a supremely well-worn old Martin, as one look will tell you. "Well-played" does not even begin to describe this guitar�"played for a lifetime" is more like it. It is a just-postwar Martin 000-21 made in early 1947, and boy has it seen a LOT of use since! This was the 139th guitar made after Martin passed the 100,000 serial number mark, which was probably just a business as usual day at the very staid and conservative Nazareth PA factory. While a post-WWII guitar this 000 still has an older look as it retains the traditional herringbone backstrip, a feature then disappearing from Martin's instruments. The last remaining 'bone' trim was used up like this on the back Style 21's after disappearing from the tops of the Style 28's.
The Auditorium sized 000-21 was never a very common guitar, 1947 was actually the peak production year for the model with 223 shipped. At the time it was the largest Style 21 instrument offered; a Dreadnought D-21 was not issued until the mid-1950's. Style 21's are built with the same materials as the more celebrated Style 28, just with less elaborate trim. The Brazilian rosewood back and sides have a nice fairly bold and straight grain figure.
Other features include a pearl dot inlaid rosewood fingerboard, multiple top and back binding with a tortoise Celluloid outer layer, B/W/B soundhole rings and a tortoise pattern Celluloid pickguard. Like many guitars of this period it also shows a slightly deeper neck profile (for a Martin) compared to the previous thin wartime necks, with a comfortable contour showing just the slightest hint of a "V". This guitar is fitted with the earliest examples of the enclosed Kluson Deluxe tuning machines we have ever seen; these are not generally supposed to have been available until a year or so later but they are definitely original to this guitar, nothing else has ever been mounted.
The 000-21 is a great sounding guitar equally at home with for finger- or flatpicking in virtually any style of music. A quick look will attest to just how much at least a couple of generations of players have enjoyed playing this one, there would appear to be hundreds if not thousands of hours of pickin' and strummin' invested here. With a neck reset and new frets this old hoss still plays with the best of 'em, and sounds spectacular. If ever an old Martin could be described as "Ragged but Right" it's this one!
Overall length is 40 in. (101.6 cm.), 15 1/4 in. (38.7 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.).
OK, this is not your "clean" Martin here. In an era of artificially aged and relic'ed pseudo-vintage guitars this is about as genuine a fretted relic as you can get. This guitar has been PLAYED, put away wet, and then played some more. For years, decades even. It's pretty much pointless to describe every spot of wear, essentially the entire instrument has wear of some sort! Still, considering the use it has seen the guitar has surprisingly little in the way of cracks or damage. It "Took a lickin' and kept on tickin'" as the old Timex ad went. Martin claimed to build their guitars for "a lifetime of use" and that's exactly what this 000-21 has had.
The top shows extensive pickwear through the lacquer and into the wood on both sides of the strings, and all around the pickguard. These areas are quite well aged and oxidized and this epic strumwear looks to have been inflicted long ago. There are no "Willie Nelson" spots (completely through the top) but the wear is fairly deep below the lower edge of the pickguard and a part of the lower soundhole rim is worn away right to the celluloid ring. The lacquer on the top has aged to a deep amber hue. There are dings, dents and scrapes over the entire guitar, and a few marks from a tailpiece fitted and then removed long ago.
There is some fairly deep wear and digs into the wood around the perimeter of the bridge and we have to assume several bridges have been on and off over the years. The one now fitted is an excellent full-height reproduction. The small maple bridgeplate remains original. The original dark tortoise Celluloid pickguard has also survived surprisingly well. The finish on the back and sides has numerous dings, dents and worn away spots but nothing as heavy as the top. The back has some tiny dots of what appears to be white paint scattered about.
The top has a repaired spruce grain crack in the typical spot at the upper edge of the pickguard, and another on the lower treble bout both solidly sealed up. Internally a couple of the forward braces appear to have been reglued to the top with hide glue long ago but none of the bracing has bee broken or cracked and the top remains completely solid with no distortion. There are several lines in the spruce on the top edge of the lower bout that look like old cracks but do not go through to the inside. Through some sort of miracle the rosewood back and sides have no cracks at all.
The back of the neck is fairly well worn down to the bare wood with some dings, dents and capo wear spots but nothing too deep. The most noticeable dent is on the treble side between the nut and first fret. The headstock has the back edge worn down but otherwise is comparatively clean. The original Kluson Deluxe tuners are still intact and functional, somehow never replaced despite decades of use.
The fingerboard has been trued and refretted with period correct wire and the neck neatly reset so playability is excellent. With a guitar this played in the spirit of the instrument seems infused with the memories of the people who played it. Obviously this is not a "clean freak's" guitar, but we don't think we've ever had a cooler gigging 1940's rosewood 000 in stock. Like the bedraggled hound dog rescued from the rain, this guitar amply rewards a little love with a fantastic volley of sound, singing with the deep ringing tone colored by decades of play. We don't know the stories behind it, but we can promise this venerable Martin still has many more to tell. Very Good Condition.
