Martin 1,000,000 guitar
 

Had a chance to stop by the Martin factory and museum and saw the 1,000,000 piece. Great work by Larry Robinson but unfortunately the project ended up not to be a guitar. I was asking myself why they strung it up at all. I think they should have done a plain ole' D-18 or D-28.

Did you play the 1,000,000th? Without the soundhole insert, it's actually a great sounding dreadnought ... at least I thought so. I was surprised since I thought all that stuff would hamper the sound.

I agree totally, that isn't a guitar, they should have done a vintage 00-45 and came up with a marketing plan to lottery it to the acoustic world and one lucky Martin fan. Instead they fill the coffers of their own museum, how about giving something back to the people who made them who they are.

I'm sure Larry enjoyed the paycheck

The 1,000,000th guitar is a benchmark, in their museum a lot of people get to see it, not just one private owner, it's meant to be a showcase for some of their artistic inlay work.

There are 999,999 other guitars (up to that point less attrition) for folks to play, it's not like there's a shortage of Martins.

I understand why they made it a showpiece, it's a commemorative not a players guitar. Martin also has 50 D-100's slotted for the numbers 1,000,001 to 1,00,0051. They too are highly "adorned" and most will end up in humidified glass cases by wealthy Martin fans, most of which also have a stable of Martin guitars they actually love and play.

Nothing wrong to me of making a guitar to commemorate an anniversary/landmark with the intent to put it in their museum to be shared. Martin is very good to their employees who are also allowed to build one guitar for themselves (or one a year?).

Commemorative guitars are no big deal one way or another to me..........:)

Know what you mean - they wouldn't give it to me, either!

cotten

I LOL'd.

Kinda OT, but I wonder what model the 1,000,001st Martin was?

I thought it was over the top, myself. But I'm not going to lecture Chris Martin on how to run a guitar company. Seems to be in his blood.

I agree with Rich. Their millionth guitar, and their celebration.

For me.... I have my trusty 30 year old D-28 to play. Win win in my book.

My post answered that. 1,000,0001 through 1,000,051 are reserved for Martin D-100's which are six figures and not much less "adorned" that the
millionth guitar. They to will end up in showcases, not meant to be players guitars.

That is almost verbatim what I posted over on UMGF when the guitar first came out.

My feeling was that it was traditional, basic, well-made guitars that the company was built on, not ostentatious-ness.

The mere facts of being in business since 1833 and having reached that number speak volumes about The C.F.Martin Guitar Company more than anything else.

Of course the sad thing is that most people are impressed by gaudy more than anything else. Hand them a simple guitar with the S/N 1,000,000 and it'll go right over their heads..........

HE

Nevermind..................

Agreed! Couldn't have said it better! :up:

The 500,000 guitar was a plain vanilla dreadnought (HD-28?) IIRC, signed by the employees on the top. My guess is that CF IV wanted something a little more memorable to mark the 1M event.

So - rather than discuss/complain, etc. why not start a campaign to convince Martin to produce a particular instrument for their 1,500,000 (likely in 2011) or the 2,000,000 (~2018)? Maybe take a poll here and over on UMGF, with results reported to Chris Martin?

So let me get this right? The "guitar" is not a guitar? Is it not functional, meaning it can not be played? It is simply a piece of art?

I am famliar with how ornamental the piece is and have respect for it, but if you literally can't strum the thing and it doesn't play a note, then that is just lame. If so, it should bear an asterik next to its name and say that it is not "officially" the 1,000,000th guitar. Kind of like Barry Bonds getting an asterik next to his name in the BB HOF.

If it does play and is built to the same standards as the D-100 with extra inlay work (not that a D-100 needs it), then I am OK with it and you can strike the above paragraph.