C.F. MARTIN & COMPANY, NAZARETH, 1969, AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR, D-35

C.F. MARTIN & COMPANY, NAZARETH, 1969
AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR, D-35
Branded internally C.F. MARTIN & Co. / NAZARETH. PA. MADE IN U.S.A. D-35 / 244869, the headstock bearing the logo C.F. Martin & Co / EST. 1833, with later hardshell case bearing a label inscribed MARTIN D35 SN/244869; accompanied by the original pickguard, a facsimile copy of a receipt for repairs carried out by Chandler Guitars, Kew, Richmond, dated 8th January 2003, a facsimile copy of a repairs invoice from Knight Guitars, Surrey, to Mr. Gilmour, dated 16th April 2010, one color photograph by Phil Taylor of David Gilmour playing this guitar at his East Sussex studio circa 2015, and a color screenshot of Gilmour playing the guitar at his Astoria studio in 2005 [not illustrated]
Length of back 19.15/16 in. (50.6 cm.)

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Saleroom Notice
Please note that Lot 2 is accompanied by one color photograph by Phil Taylor rather than two color photographs by Phil Taylor as stated in the printed catalogue.

Pre-Lot Text
C.F. MARTIN AND COMPANY
The 186 year history of Martin Guitars begins in Markneukirchen, Germany with the birth of Christian Frederick Martin in 1796. Born into a family of guitar and cabinetmakers Christian Frederick was sent to Vienna at age 15 to apprentice with celebrated luthier Johann Stauffer. Upon returning to his native Saxon he found himself embroiled in a bitter dispute between two competing Guilds. The Cabinet Makers Guild who were the traditional makers of guitars in Germany were being challenged by the powerful Violinmakers Guild for the right to produce guitars. Though successful in defending his right to make guitars, Christian Frederick felt that the restrictive guild system bridled his opportunities and creative process in Germany.
In 1833 he emigrated to the United States and set up his first workshop on Hudson Street in New York’s Lower West Side. Here he plied his trade for five years before moving his family and business to the pastoral setting of Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The rolling hills of the Pennsylvania countryside must have suited Martin, for it was here in the 1850s, unfettered by the German Guilds, that he was fully able to express his artisanship. The most enduring contribution to the luthier’s art came about at this period with his innovation of the “X” bracing pattern for the top of a guitar. This bracing system is responsible for the extraordinary tonal quality of Martin instruments. This system proved to be the perfect balance of mass and material allowing the top to vibrate to its fullest potential. It later proved to be integral with the use of steel strings on guitars allowing the top to withstand the pressures they exert. It would be embraced by the majority of guitar makers a century later, making the steel string guitar the choice for musicians of popular song.
Through the 150 plus years and seven generations of Martin Family leadership this American guitar company produced a range of models and styles that became the standard for all flat-top guitar design. Their work influenced a generation of American Post War makers in both design and construction techniques. These instruments gave an indelible voice to all genres of music including rock and roll.
THE MARTIN DREADNOUGHT OR "D" SIZE GUITAR
As early as 1917 the C.F. Martin Company was producing “extra-large” bodied guitars for the Boston publishing house of Oliver Ditson, which were sold bearing the Ditson name. They came in three styles: the 111, 222, and 333. Christened the Dreadnought, it got its name from the class of large battleships deployed by the British Navy at the beginning of the 20th Century. These first Dreadnought guitars, constructed by Martin, were made with mahogany back and sides, similar to today's Style 18s, and fitted with a 12-fret neck. After Ditson's demise in 1931, Martin began producing D-series guitars under their own name, in response to musicians' demands for louder instruments. It is believed that two experimental D-1s of mahogany and seven D-2’s of rosewood were made that year before committing to the formal model designation of the D-18 and D-28 we know today.
C.F. Martin and Company records show that on 17th September 1931 a Shop Order, number 1100, was processed and work began on two guitars - serial number 48324, a D-18, and serial number 48325, a D-28. This instrument would be the first Martin guitar manufactured officially as a D-28 and the only one made in 1931. Four would be produced in 1932, twelve in 1933 and twenty-four in 1934, before the market would favor the 14-fret models. The Dreadnought became an almost instant success among performing guitarists despite some reservations by Frederick and Frank Henry Martin. During the height of the Depression it would outsell all other models made by The Martin Company, except for the budget priced O-17. The fact that a majority of guitar makers employ a Dreadnought model to this day is a testament to its success as an outline in acoustic guitar design.
By 1965 C.F. Martin had experienced a 32% increase in production totals in just five years, a growth pattern that would continue over the next eight years. Among the model line of guitars produced by Martin, it was the demand from customers and orders for the Dreadnought models that drove this growth. These instruments required rosewood logs wide enough to mill-out the traditional two-piece backs used on the big bodied D models. With a diminishing resource of old growth Brazilian Rosewood, Frank Herbert Martin understood the biggest threat would soon be sourcing the materials to fill the growing orders. The answer came from a new employee at C.F. Martin, named Bob Johnson. He suggested that Dreadnought guitars could be made with three narrower billets of rosewood joined to make the width required for the back and thus was born the model D-35. The seasoned luthiers in the Martin workshop understood that a three-piece back would be stiffer than a two-piece and could adversely affect the tonal quality Martin guitars were relished for. Through a considerable amount of experimentation, the luthiers compensated for the stiffer back with alterations to thicknesses and bracing; by incorporating the bracing pattern and dimensions for the smaller OOO size guitars on the back of the D-35, and yet smaller bracing from an OO for the new model’s top, they solved the potential problem. The result was a distinctly new sounding Dreadnought guitar that was quickly embraced by players. The D-35 was so well received that it began to outsell the D-28, which was C.F. Martin’s most popular model at the time.