NGD - vintage Martin

[SongwriterFan]

Just ordered this 1931 0-18k from Gruhn's.

Now the wait for shipping begins.

http://guitars.com/inventory/ab9738-1931-martin-0-18k

[Glennwillow]

Very nice! That's going to be a special guitar for you!

- Glenn

[guitar12]

Beautiful! What is 'spanish setup', btw?

Rob

[drew b]

That's a sweet little box right there! I'll bet it's as light as a feather.

Drew

Originally Posted by guitar12

Beautiful! What is 'spanish setup', btw?

Many of these were originally setup for slide, but have been converted for fretted playing. Because of the musical utility, this is one of the few vintage alterations that does not negatively affect value. This one however was setup for fretted, or Spanish style originally.

Edited for clarity.

[Borderdon]

Congratulations on one fine looking guitar.
Looks to be in great condition.
Don

[JCave]

Alright, I am jealous...

[Kerbie]

Wow... that's beautiful! I can't wait to hear about it. Congrats!

[MWB5007]

Beautiful guitar - I was looking at that one on their website too, I'll be you love it....

...Todd, I misunderstood and thought when it said "original spanish set up" it meant that it was still set up for slide and would require a conversion. Just to be clear, does "spanish set up" mean that it has already been converted?

[SongwriterFan]

Originally Posted by Todd Yates

This one however was setup for fretted, or Spanish style originally.

How do they tell that? Or does Martin have the records to indicate this?

I also wonder why it's called "Spanish style"

[MikeD]

Congrats on that rare find. Very few Koa Martins were built Spanish style, since most were built for Hawaiian slide guitar playing. I have an original Spanish setup built 1924 0-28K. The great thing with the few built Spanish is they never had to be "converted", thus they tend to be all/mostly original and the neck will be the standard Martin neck, which is much more comfortable than a comparable Hawaiian neck on a Hawaiian built model. I also believe they were built lighter, although I can't prove that, simply based on their tone and responsiveness.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by SongwriterFan

How do they tell that? Or does Martin have the records to indicate this?

I also wonder why it's called "Spanish style"

Spanish is "normal" style for us modern folk. It's easy ways to tell if the guitar was built for Hawaiian would include the fretboard being flat with no radius (typically requires a new fingerboard to address in a Spanish conversion), it would have a high nut and different neck angle and bridge thickness that is not conducive to a setup that would allow playing normally where you fret the strings because it was built for slide Hawaiian style playing & music (which would require a neck reset and a new bridge to allow proper setup for normal playing). I don't know why it's called Spanish, but that's the difference of the build and setup between Hawaiian and Spanish. Martin didn't keep records as to how many were built Hawaiian or Spanish, but based on how rare the Spanish built guitars are, I'd venture to say very few were built Spanish.

[EverettWilliams]

I've played that one. It's a lovely guitar. Congrats!

[guitar george]

Wow! A beautiful pre-war Martin in excellent shape. Congratulations!

Hope you didn't have to pay $250,000.00 for it.

[oxygenman]

That's going to bring you a lot of happiness.