1938 Martin 00-18 Conversion – £3749

NEW ARRIVAL  This guitar started life in 1938 as a Martin R-17, an all Mahogany archtop. The top has since been replaced by a Lutz Spruce flat top, with new bracing and tortoise binding. The back, sides, back bracing, neck, fingerboard and tuners are all original from 1938. All this makes for a very interesting guitar. It feels like a vintage guitar, and the neck plays exactly as you’d expect from a 30’s Martin – a soft V profile, very comfortable, extremely playable, with a very responsive Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard. Tonally you can hear the warmth, depth and character provided by the original back and sides, but now there’s a brightness, and sparkle from the Lutz top. There are no cracks or repairs to the back and sides, or neck – in fact they’re in excellent condition for their age. With 1930’s 00-18’s fetching very high prices, this guitar represents a far more affordable way of getting such a highly sought after guitar, although a little quirky. The guitar comes in a non original, vintage hard case.