Update on the previous Jim Croce post

[Rockysdad]

As relayed to me from Carwashblues


My D-21JCB story
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Sorry but I have to admit I'm VERY new to this forum stuff and didn't know how to start a thread so I'll send this information to you and maybe you can post it for everyone?

I was always a Jim Croce fan! Still my favorite male vocalist! Always liked story telling songs and Jim was great at that!

I worked at Martin guitar from 1996 to 2002 as a finish sprayer doing lacquer and catalyzed lacquer finishes.

It started with my recording on VHS tape a "Behind the music" from VH1 of Jim Croce and giving it to Chris Martin IV. Took about a year till he watched it but he stopped me one day while he was giving a tour and said it was "very interesting" and that we were going to do it. That's big because Martin only likes to do signature editions for artists who solely play Martin's. Jim and Maury played Ovations when on the road because of their durability.

Jim did play a D-21 Brazilian rosewood made in 1969 on all 3 albums but he never owned the guitar! He once had an extensive set of guitars but as times got rough he sold them. Paul Wilson owns the guitar he played. Paul took the album photos for at least the Life and Times album but maybe for all 3 albums not sure.

Martin requested Mr. Wilson to please send the guitar in for inspection. Somewhere I have pictures my manager took of me holding the actual guitar Jim played but have misplaced them. Paul still had the strings in an envelope in the case that Jim last played before his tragic death. And as I saw on that thread one of the forum members was completely correct. Jim backed Maury but as time went by Jim's career picked up and Maury (an accomplished concert guitarist) ended up backing Jim. As I said in my post I had a dream come true meeting Ingrid Croce and her now husband, A.J. Croce, Maury's girlfriend and A.J.'s lead guitarist Michael Bizarre.

The 1973 dime was actually Paul Wilson's idea from the line in the song Operator "and you can keep the dime" but truth be told they were not mint dimes never circulated. They were very clean dimes polished up.

The original guitar had a very loose radius on the top corners of the head. It's an interesting story in itself. Back in the day when necks were shaped totally by hand the jigs that were used became worn over time and no one noticed so there's probably a lot of older Martins out there the same way. Old "pappy" Martin the 3rd whom I and my family knew spotted it eventually and new jigs were built. I took that issue of the loose radius to CF4 and said since we were replicating the artist's guitar and it wouldn't affect the sound we should do it and he agreed. Unfortunately when the necks started coming through the sanding department from the CNC the sanders started trying to sand the tight radius in! So the edition models are not quite as rounded as the original.

Another thing I brought to CF4's attention was brought to mine by my manager. He said Grover tuners were on the 1969 original. And BTW the original guitar had AWESOME Brazilian rosewood grain! When I spoke with Chris about the the tuners he said we were using something else because the Grovers were old school. I asked him if the company was still in business and he replied yes but in Taiwan. I suggested looking into the possibility that they might have a retro looking tuner that was more up to date and that's how the edition ended up with Grover tuners.

I bought a Brazilian model for myself but I wanted a specific serial number in the edition because I wanted it to represent something. So I chose #30 because Jim was 30 when his life ended. However I didn't like the grain on #30 but did like the grain on #33 so off to ask CF4 another favor! Could we swap the interior labels which he did for me but as a funny side note when he was signing the new labels his fountain pen blotted ink all over and he had to make new labels again!

So it took 2 years to get that guitar to fruition because they did come out in 2000. I can't remember if the prototypes went to Ingrid or if they sold in house amongst employees. I had a gold plus internal pickup installed on mine as an extra.

A.J. had invited us down to see him play at a coffeehouse near philly where his dad once played. And that was special. He's a great artist and has his own style but played his rendition of "Working at the Car Wash Blues" that night.

[Glennwillow]

Wow, what a fascinating story! Totally absorbing!

I read Ingred Croce's book about her life with Jim. She was very open, warts and all, in how she told the story.

Thanks for this!

- Glenn

[sloar]

My dad past away 4 years ago, he was a huge fan. Everytime I hear one of his songs it brings up fond memories of my dad. His favorite was Time in a Bottle. I've been working on it, but only being two years in its a challenge for me. I'll keep at it until I get it.

[LeftyKev]

Great account, particularly as you actually worked there at the time. Do you remember how many leftys of this model were manufactured?

[Kerbie]

Great story! Thanks to Rockysdad for relaying it.

Carwashblues... welcome to the AGF. We look forward to hearing more from you. If you're looking at the main index page, find the subforum in which you want to post. For example, you can click on the top forum, the General Discussion, and see THIS. From there, just click on the blue button on the left that says, "New Thread." Type your post in the edit box and click, "Submit New Thread" below the box. Give it a try.

[hilts]

Very cool story so thank you for sharing it. I too, am a huge Jim Croce fan and I recently read Ingrid's book. It definitely contains warts and all but so interesting. Great to hear some personal background on the signature guitars.

[egordon99]

Jim's final resting place is actually across the street from my Synagogue (where I do some of the Shabbat music) in Chester County, PA.

Let's all try to bottle up some time if we get a chance.

[gfspencer]

Great story!

Jim Croce has always been one of my favorite singer/songwriters.

[Carwashblues]

Unfortunately I do not know that information. Funny thing is I'm left handed. When I purchased mine my manager made a valid point because I didn't play then (and unfortunately still don't). He suggested getting a righty. I did and back then I had a bit more time and tried but don't have the nimbleness in left hand for pushing on the strings and changing hand position like my right hand. So I'll probably never get the time to learn but all is not lost! I'm very proud to have brought this model to fruition to commemorate Jim Croce and it will be passed onto my daughter when I pass along with my father's Silvertone coronet. He was band leader in HS and when I was very young I wanted to play guitar but we had no money for that so he handed me his coronet and I got my lip developed where I could play something simple like twinkle twinkle little star without hitting sour notes but stopped practicing. Probably broke his heart! Sorry dad!

[RP]

Originally Posted by Rockysdad

...A.J. had invited us down to see him play at a coffeehouse near philly where his dad once played. And that was special. He's a great artist and has his own style but played his rendition of "Working at the Car Wash Blues" that night.

Great story, Carwash. Just curious would that coffeehouse have been the Main Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Main_Point in Bryn Mawr? Used to go there while I was a high schooler, and I know that Jim frequently performed there...

[Goodallboy]

Great story, thank you for sharing that information!

[ziapack]

Great story, thank-you for sharing.

[LeftyKev]

Originally Posted by Carwashblues

Unfortunately I do not know that information. Funny thing is I'm left handed. When I purchased mine my manager made a valid point because I didn't play then (and unfortunately still don't). He suggested getting a righty. I did and back then I had a bit more time and tried but don't have the nimbleness in left hand for pushing on the strings and changing hand position like my right hand. So I'll probably never get the time to learn but all is not lost! I'm very proud to have brought this model to fruition to commemorate Jim Croce and it will be passed onto my daughter when I pass along with my father's Silvertone coronet. He was band leader in HS and when I was very young I wanted to play guitar but we had no money for that so he handed me his coronet and I got my lip developed where I could play something simple like twinkle twinkle little star without hitting sour notes but stopped practicing. Probably broke his heart! Sorry dad!

yes fair enough, but I would like to think there were a couple available at the time.

[frances50]

Weren’t the guitars ordered directly from Martin at the time and not all produced at the same time?

[Recce]

When I was on the Martin tour or talking to someone who worked for Martin at Martinfest they said if they have made a custom you can order it because they keep the various specifications on file. Not sure if that applies to everything.