Quote:
Originally Posted by audiosoul
I know this relates to different size bodies, but what are the sizes? Are they related to dreadnaugt, grand concert and concert sizes? Which is larger O or OOO. Thanks for the responses....
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It's based on Martin's nomenclature system, which originated during the 19th Century. Paradoxically, the higher the model number, the smaller the guitar.
So Martin's Size 5 guitar is actually what's called a terz guitar, designed to be tuned a minor third higher than standard pitch. ("Terz" is the German word for "third," and the original C.F. Martin was from Germany.) Those little terz guitars were popular in Germany back then, and Martin still makes them. They're about the size of a baritone ukulele.
Back to the topic at hand - Martin's Size 2 and 1 guitars were probably the most common back during the Civil War era, and their very biggest guitar model was the Size 0.
As the 19th Century started drawing to a close, that became the most popular Martin size, but players wanted bigger guitars than that, so Martin introduced the 00 size, which is just slightly smaller than the standard classical guitar size. I've never heard anyone call the 00 size "Zero Zero" or "Double Zero," but that's what that is. (Most Martin employees call that size "Double Aught," most players I've heard discussing it call it "Double Oh." But it's really a zero.)
Just after the turn of the 20th Century, the trend for larger guitars continued, and Martin introduced the 000, verbally referred to as the "Triple Aught" or "Triple Oh." Then in the late 1920's the Martin company introduced a version of the Triple O body with a neck joined the body at the 14th fret. They christened this the "orchestra model," or "OM" for short. Then a few years after that the scale length was shortened and what had been the OM was given the Triple O designation.
So you'll see people on this forum referring to 14 fret Triple O's or 12 fret Triple O's, 14 fret Double O's, and so forth, because all of these three body sizes - the 0, 00 and 000 - all eventually came in both 12 fret and 14 fret versions. In the earlier years the company was making either one version or the other, and generally not both at the same time. But nowadays it's all available, on special order if not in the current product lineup.
As to how these compare to the dreadnought, the 12 fret Triple O is the body size that's just slightly smaller than that.
Hope that makes sense, and makes this all a bit more comprehensible.
Wade Hampton Miller