Martin Guitar Factory

Hello fellow travelers,

It's been a little while, and Red has been a little behind in his travels and reports. I've got a real job, and Red Junior was still in school, so we didn't get out like we should have. School is now out, so Red fired up his trusty steed, Cubic Zirconium, and rambled off into the smog of Pennsylvania.

Great googly-moogly, have I got a treat for you all today. Red mounted up and traveled to the Martin Guitar Factory in Nazareth, PA.

The factory provides tours of the plant, the museum has some wonderful instruments to gaze upon, and there's a herd of Martins sprinkled throughout the lobby and gift shop for you to put your greasy fingerprints on and play. More on that in a minute.

If you would be patient with Red, I'll provide a little background on this trip, and how we got where we wuz. In 2005, I paid my $$$ and joined the Martin Owner's Club, which was a new way of networking Martin's customers. As a member, I got stuff. T-shirts, strings, picks, hats and, well, STUFF. A few months ago, I received an announcement for the Grand Opening of the new Museum and Visitor's Center. I had always planned to go; now I had an excuse. I bought my first Martin Guitar about 10 years ago, and it was your typical fulfillment of a dream. After years of saving and negotiating, I bought a DM. It was Martin's line of affordable ($1000) guitars, and I loved it. A couple of months ago, I bought my second Martin, a D-16. The D-16 is a key player in today's little opera, so strap in and hang on.

The Grand Opening was for Martin Owner's Club members only, so I'm going to try to separate Club stuff from a typical visit.

We (L'il Red and Me) arrived Sunday evening, so we didn't have to rush, had a pleasant stay at the hotel, and went to Don Pablo's Mexican Restaurant for dinner. We drove up to the Martin factory to get a handle on location and parking. I also took some awesome pictures. The place was deserted on a Sunday afternoon, so I didn't have to deal with people walking in front of the camera.

Monday morning, a leisurely continental breakfast at the hotel, and off we go. Arriving at 8:30 am, we got registered and they provided a place to park your guitar. One of the day's events was to have your guitar restrung by a real live Martin Technician. (OOOOH-AAAAAHHH). We were scheduled for our tour of the factory at 8:50 am, and I think there were about 15 of us in our little group. (Note: Normal factory tours start at 1 pm.)

And then...like Wonka and his Chocolate Factory...the portal opens, a great light, celestial trumpets, and....not really. The first hallway was the entryway that detailed the different woods, departments, and functions of the factory. They showed examples of shaping jigs, inlay work, tone woods and fretboards.

I won't bore all you campers with the details, that would ruin all the fun, but I'll say this. For many years, I drooled and slobbered in the music stores looking at Martins, and now I own a couple, but to see, ah my friends, to gaze upon the magic...

Guitar bodies, guitar necks, polishing, sanding, racks and racks of pieces and parts all waiting to become the most distinctive instruments in the world. As you walk through the plant, you see robotic polishers next to a craftsman hand-sanding neck joints, and it is truly awe-inspiring to see 21st century technology merged and melded to the traditional luthier's art. The factory is well laid out for touristas like myself, and the staff is always willing to look up from their work and smile at your silly picture taking. I suppose OSHA had a hand in the environmental aspects of sanding guitars, because the dust-collection system was incredible. I stood about 4 feet from a young lady sanding away on a guitar body, and I never got hit with any sawdust. Mind you, I would have bathed in it if they let me, but alas, it was not to be.

I am an amateur wood-worker myself, and the smell of sawdust, good mahogany, spruce and walnut was intoxicating. At the end of the plant tour, we were all given a soundhole cut-out laser etched with "Martin Factory Tour". Way cool.

After the tour, we had about 30 minutes to kill, so we wandered over to the Sprinkled Martins (hey, look at paragraph 2) and played with some killer guitars. There are two locations you can play Martins. One is in the lobby, and there are 5 or 6 different guitars hanging on the wall. These are all base model Martins, most of which you can find at any good Martin Dealer. The second place is inside the gift shop, where you must ask the wonderful staff for admittance. This is probably a prudent security measure, because inside this room are some of the mo$$$$$t expen$ive Martin$ made. Thousands of $$$$ guitars, from the Clarence White D-28CW ($5,199 list), the Ritchie Sambora OMC-41 ($6999 list) and the archtop CF-1 ($5149 list).

Needless to say, I was gassed. (Note to Martin folks, give these away next year...)

Anyway, at last it was time to have my guitar restrung, and even that was a memorable experience. I had the privilege to have my guitar worked on by the incomparable Richard Starkey. We seemed to recognize each other, and thought we had crossed paths at some point, but we couldn't exactly figure where. At any rate, Mr. Starkey looked over my guitar, worked on the nut, adjusted my truss rod, made nice noises about the wood and condition, and restrung it. On a quick side note, there were some NICE guitars folks had brought, and there was much rejoicing among the Martin staff about the variety and condition of these axes.

After the work was completed, there was LUNCH! Martin catered a typical BBQ type meal, burgers, dogs, and a pasta dish for the tree huggers, beans, and tater salad. Another example of Martin's exceptional commitment to its employees is they invited the entire plant to have lunch with the Martin Owners Club. Can you believe it??? Rubbing elbows with the very people who make these fantastic instruments???? But wait!!! It gets better!!! They had live music, a big tent, and plenty of seating. No lines, no waiting.

After lunch, we had about an hour until the speech given by Christian Frederick Martin IV, who is known throughout the factory as Chris. A most engaging person, very down-to-earth, and very quick to give credit to his staff of incredibly talented and dedicated folks. He spoke for about an hour, and was exciting to listen to. We saw Mr. Martin wandering about the premises (he owns it, after all), shaking hands, kissing babies, and posing for photo ops. Red scored a picture with Mr. Martin, and got an autograph in a book I had bought.

While you won't get lunch or some of the swag, you will still find the Martin Guitar Factory, museum and gift shop a cool way to spend an afternoon. We heard that sometimes Mr. Martin personally gives tours, and you will find a smile on every face in the plant.

Red had a good time, or is it too obvious?

TNT,

Red

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