Martin OM28 Authentic 1931

Background

CF Martin & Co invented the modern guitar as we know it today. The helped to pioneer the move from gut (or nylon as it usually is today) strings to steel strings and they developed the engineering ideas that enabled this move.

In the early 1900s Martin had a range of small-bodied instruments that were selling well but had some serious limitations in their projection and playability. In the late 1920s at the behest of a famous banjo and guitar player of the time Perry Bechtel, Martin created an instrument with a longer neck (14 frets clear of the body) and the OM was born.

These early instruments from the Golden Era are amongst the most highly prized (and expensive) instruments there are. Good condition examples sell for many tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The reason that these instruments were so good is partly that they were built very lightly, by skilled craftspeople and there was a plentiful supply of incredibly high quality wood and partly because Martin hadn't foreseen the possible warranty claims created by making instruments in this fashion (a challenge that every guitar maker has is balancing the relentless pull of the strings (180 lbs) against the structural integrity of the instrument).

So the business imperative of building robust instruments efficiently began to impact on the construction techniques employed.

However, every now and again Martin produce instruments that go back to these roots in limited numbers - their Authentic or Golden Era ranges

The guitar

The OM28 Authentic '31 is just such an instrument. This guitar is an exact copy of a famous instrument owned by Mike Seeger, that was scanned and then faithfully reproduced. The only major change has been that the original was made from Brazilian rosewood (which is both difficult to source and hard to transport through customs) which is now classified as an endangered species and is on the CITES Schedule 1 alongside other materials such as ivory, rhino horn and tortoiseshell.

But, despite this, the instrument is a pretty accurate copy of the original and it differs from the standard series in a number of ways.

Madagascar Rosewood - rather than using the more common (and less expensive) East Indian rosewood, this instrument has madagascan rosewood back and sides.

Torrified Adirondack - adirondack (or Red Spruce) was the wood of choice in this period for the top of the instrument. Light and very stiff this is a perfect material for soundboards. Sadly it is now expensive compared to many other options. This wood has also been "torrified" which means it has been baked in an oxygen free oven for a long period. This encourages the sap in the wood to crystallise in the same way it has over time in the original instruments.

Hot Hide Glue - the original adhesives for instruments were made from animal protein (either bovines or sometimes fish) and this glue has some major advantages. First it is heat activated, so should the instrument ever need to be disassembled for repairs it's easy because you simply heat the glue up and it become a liquid again. It also sounds better than modern glues because the crystalline structure of the glue means that the two pieces of wood you stick together tend to behave like a single piece. The downside is that you have to use it in a hot room and even then you only have a limited amount of time before it sets so it's always a race against the clock.

T-Bar Truss Rod - usually int he neck of acoustic guitars there is an adjustable metal truss-rod. This gives support to the neck and helps to stop the pull of the strings from bending it. The adjustability of this also means you can add or remove relief (curve to the neck) by turning an allen bolt. The problem is though that this rod is under tension and can act like a big spring soaking-up energy from the strings. This guitar doesn't have any adjustment, simply a t section metal bar glued in to the neck just like it used to be. This means that the neck isn't flexible and acts like a bell ensuring all the string energy is converted in to sound.

Cut-through Saddle - most instruments today have a short saddle that doesn't stretch all the way across the bridge for strength (as early bridges with a long saddle used to be prone to splitting). The long (or cut-though) saddle has been re-introduced for aesthetic rather than sonic reasons.

No logo - early instruments didn't have a foil logo on the headstock they simply had a stamp embossed on to the back which this instrument also features.

Vintage gloss finish - although nitrocellulose lacquer is very different today to the 1930s Martin have decided to use a modern version but have not buffed the instrument to a high gloss finish like their modern instruments. So whilst this is very smooth it is almost slightly satin in finish.

Vintage bridge pins - with modern guitars the bridge pins had a small channel routed in to them (for the strings) as they pass through the bridge, This enables the whole in the bridge simply to be a tapered circular whole. Originally the bridge pins had no such channel, so the string channel is cut in to the bridge. Again, no sonic difference simply a more fiddly way to do things so something that was changed over the years.

The end result of this is an instrument that is a great deal better than one of their standard guitars. It has that "traditional western sound" but better projection, sustain and a much more interesting and complex sound...but these changes come at a price. The Authentic instruments typically are a 50-75% more expensive than their standard counterparts.

Are they worth it? Perhaps so, they sound better, they are better finished and they have a much more alluring vibe to them but they certainly are not as good as the instruments they are copying. They are still (ultimately) made in a factory and whilst had assembled they are not hand made - no variations in thicknessing, bracing, carving - based on the individual pieces of wood being used which means that there is still the opportunity to have great and no so great guitars. For the next level up in terms of performance the answer is always a hand made instrument.