SOLD: Martin 000-18A Burst-1937 Authentic

[invguy921]

2006 Martin 000-18A Burst-1937 Authentic...Gorgeous!

*SOLD!!*


This guitar belonged to a very well respected person here on AGF. Through a set of transactions, I wound up with it and here it is. I currently own a Martin that could be its twin, mine also with a burst finish. As such don't need two of the same basic guitar.

The guitar looks and plays fantastic. The pictures tell much of the story. If you aren't familiar with these guitars, they are designed to capture the essence of the earlier highly sought after Martins. I think Martin has done a super job of recreating that vintage Martin tone in these guitars.

Martin said: "C.F. Martin "Authentic Series" guitars go well beyond the already highly acclaimed Golden Era vintage recreations in faithfully replicating the specifications, materials and processes used in the construction of the original pre-WWII Martin guitars. These custom hand-constructed acoustic guitars draw their inspiration from stellar 1937 examples and employ the use of hide glue as well as a T-shaped neck reinforcement bar. Other significant features on this Martin guitar include an Adirondack red spruce top with circa 1937 contoured Adirondack bracing, a specially shaped tortoise-colored pickguard, a narrow tortoise-colored end piece, old style 18 abalone position markers, grained ivoroid side position dots, black ebony fingerboard and bridge, fossil ivory nut and saddle, premium Waverly period tuning gears, and a vintage case."

This is what was written about this particular guitar by a well known previous owner: " There are many OM-18A's out there but only 96 of the 000-18A's were made. Martin didn't keep track of the number of sunbursts but they say approximately 20% - so figure about 18-19 are out there. This guitar is 150 guitars shy of the end of 2007. If you love the OM-18A but want more warmth and a softer feel or have a 000-18GE but wish it were more responsive, powerful, loud, more funky and as lightly built as the Authentics: this is your guitar. The 000-18A is warmer and almost as loud and resonant as the real deal. Truly brilliant. You can get 95% of the tone of a real 1937 000-18 for about 25% the price."

Features:

Model: 000-18 Authentic 1937
Construction: Mahogany Blocks/Dovetail Neck Joint
Body Size: 000-14 Fret
Top: Solid Adirondack Spruce
Rosette: Old Style 18
Top Bracing Pattern: Standard ''X'' Scalloped (Golden Era Style), Forward Shifted
Top Braces: Solid Adirondack Spruce 1/4''
Back Material: Solid Genuine Mahogany
Back Purfling: Solid Brazilian Rosewood Strip
Side Material: Solid Genuine Mahogany
Endpiece: Delmar Tortoise Color In A Narrow 1937 Shape - Brown
Endpiece Inlay: None
Binding: Tortoise Color
Top Inlay Style: Multiple Black/White Boltaron
Side Inlay: None
Back Inlay: None
Neck Material: Genuine Mahogany
Neck Shape: Authentic 1937 Barrel & Heel
Nut Material: Fossilized Ivory
Headstock: Solid/Square Taper
Headplate: Solid Brazilian Rosewood /Golden Era Style
Heelcap: Solid Black Ebony
Fingerboard Material: Solid Black Ebony
Scale Length: 24.9''
# Of Frets Clear: 14
# Of Frets Total: 20
Fingerboard Width At Nut: 1-3/4''
Fingerboard Width At 12th Fret: 2-1/4''
Fingerboard Position Inlays: Old Style 18
Fingerboard Binding: None
Finish Back & Sides: Polished Gloss
Finish Top: Polished Gloss 1935 Sunburst
Finish Neck: Polished Gloss
Bridge Material: Solid Black Ebony
Bridge Style: 1930s Style Belly With Long Saddle
Bridge String Spacing: 2-5/16''
Saddle: 16'' Radius/Long Fossilized Ivory
Tuning Machines: Waverly Relic tuners replaced the shiny ones
Bridge Pins: Inlaid Stained Bone
End Pins: Solid Black Ebony
Pickguard: Delmar Tortoise Color - Beveled (Under Finish)
Case: V18a Authentic Style





Priced (Accordingly but below market expectations) SOLD plus shipping and Paypal. Reasonable offers considered and some trades where there is a significantly large cash portion. No straight trades.

[GTomcan]

Hi , just another fine acoustic, I sent you a PM

[invguy921]

Originally Posted by GTomcan

Hi , just another fine acoustic, I sent you a PM

Thanks Tom, and thanks to the others who have reached out to me about this guitar. Certainly this guitar is unique in that less than 20 with a burst were made. I know several of you are thinking hard about this one. Bring me your offers...

Here's another look...

[rdeane]

Those are mighty pretty marbles in the dish. You must not own a cat.

[Cocobolo Kid]

Nobody "owns" a cat. They might let you think that while you are taking care of all their needs.

[invguy921]

A question that was raised was regarding the white edge around the bridge and around the pickguard etc. It was polish residue.

I have removed it and here are a few pictures of the guitar after I removed the residue. A number of people have inquired about this guitar and I don't expect it to be here very long now. As some know, a very well respected collector of nice Martins owned this previously and made some very positive comments about this guitar when he sold it downsizing his collection.

Here's another angle:

[invguy921]

There are a number of people thinking about this guitar.

Here are a couple of videos that give you a feel for the guitar. Sorry, these are only phone videos, but they sound pretty good.

[TheChicagoTodd]

Beautiful guitar!

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[TheChicagoTodd]

Originally Posted by rdeane

Those are mighty pretty marbles in the dish. You must not own a cat.

[emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[invguy921]

Originally Posted by TheChicagoTodd

Beautiful guitar!

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

Thank you! It is ready for someone to come along and scoop it up. You WILL NOT be disappointed with the tone of this one. It came very close to "bumping" me out of my Signature Eric Clapton burst in my signature. Were it not for the collectors value of the EC, it might be for sale instead.

Here's a quote from a dealer (name left out intentionally) that I am using by permission. This pretty much says it all...

"I've had five over the years, and they have all been extraordinary. I don't think the general public realizes how good these guitars play and sound. IMO, they are the best re-issue Martin has built. The only reason I haven't kept one for myself is a certain early '34 000-18 setting here next to me. But, if you can't have the original, this is absolutely the next best thing. I've A/B'd them with my '34, and they truly are close."

So potential buyers just imagine what this guitar will sound like as the years go by...when it is 80 years old with the technology that built this one vs the old ones...WOW!!!

This guitar sounds really good right now. Someone will enjoy owning this one.

[blindboyjimi]

Originally Posted by invguy921

Here's a quote from a dealer (name left out intentionally) that I am using by permission. This pretty much says it all...

"I've had five over the years, and they have all been extraordinary. I don't think the general public realizes how good these guitars play and sound. IMO, they are the best re-issue Martin has built. The only reason I haven't kept one for myself is a certain early '34 000-18 setting here next to me. But, if you can't have the original, this is absolutely the next best thing. I've A/B'd them with my '34, and they truly are close."

So potential buyers just imagine what this guitar will sound like as the years go by...when it is 80 years old with the technology that built this one vs the old ones...WOW!!!

This guitar sounds really good right now. Someone will enjoy owning this one.

First of all, Mike is a good friend and very trustworthy and cheers to those sound clips. This 000-18A was out of my collection. This is one of the guitars that made me say "wow", Martin really upped the ante with the Authentics. I immediately sold my 000-18GE. When I retired I decided to "only live once" and I turned my collection of guitars from Gibson and Martin vintage clones to the real deals. Just about every guitar was sold and replaced with its vintage model. When I finally found my 1937 000-18, I still couldn't sell my 000-18A 1937...plus the sunburst is gorgeous in person. It was 2 years later that I finally decided they were redundant and I needed some additional funds for the rosewood side of my collection.

What isn't mentioned, besides the mint condition and excellent tone, is that this guitar has Waverly relic tuners and it's probably the only 000-18A that has larger frets than the tiny 0.080 x 0.037 G300 frets Martin uses on the Authentics. It sports Dunlop 6155's which are a bit wider and taller 0.103" x 0.046". This was done by Martin and as well as PLEKed for me. It makes the vintage necked guitars play much easier. I don't recognize the pins as 18 series Martin's have ebony solid pins as in my picture below. The look to be aged bone or FWI and a nice addition.
This is the 1937 000-18 along with Mike's 000-18A Authentic 1937 Sunburst.

[invguy921]

Originally Posted by blindboyjimi

First of all, Mike is a good friend and very trustworthy and cheers to those sound clips. This 000-18A was out of my collection. This is one of the guitars that made me say "wow", Martin really upped the ante with the Authentics. I immediately sold my 000-18GE. When I retired I decided to "only live once" and I turned my collection of guitars from Gibson and Martin vintage clones to the real deals. Just about every guitar was sold and replaced with its vintage model. When I finally found my 1937 000-18, I still couldn't sell my 000-18A 1937...plus the sunburst is gorgeous in person. It was 2 years later that I finally decided they were redundant and I needed some additional funds for the rosewood side of my collection.

What isn't mentioned, besides the mint condition and excellent tone, is that this guitar has Waverly relic tuners and it's probably the only 000-18A that has larger frets than the tiny 0.080 x 0.037 G300 frets Martin uses on the Authentics. It sports Dunlop 6155's which are a bit wider and taller 0.103" x 0.046". This was done by Martin and as well as PLEKed for me. It makes the vintage necked guitars play much easier. I don't recognize the pins as 18 series Martin's have ebony solid pins as in my picture below. The look to be aged bone or FWI and a nice addition.
This is the 1937 000-18 along with Mike's 000-18A Authentic 1937 Sunburst.

Jim, Thank you for the kind words and thank you for posting this. I think a lot of people are ready to buy this, and possibly this additional information about the various upgrades is just what they need to go ahead and move forward on this one.

For the record, yes those are very nice pins and if the buyer prefers ebony, ebony it will be. I've always enjoyed upgrading pins on most of my guitars, but for those who are more traditional, certainly this one can be traditional if preferred by the buyer...those cool pins will go on another guitar.

Price drop today...sunday...to the first person who speaks up