Details
How often do we get a 66 year old Martin that makes us scratch our heads, wondering "besides being played, has anything been done?" The playing wear to the barrel of the neck is obvious, ditto the light crazing to the original lacquer finish. There's some finish missing around the lip of the soundhole (along edge of pickguard), and one of the short crazing lines on the top (near bottom of treble side) MIGHT be a hairline crack, but it doesn't flex at all so we're making no claims one way or the other. Frets show some wear, but not much, and what appears to be the original saddle is an ideal height with good string action (there's room to lower the saddle if you have to).
Starting at the top: original Grover tuners, nut, pickguard, and bridge. Original finish shows no signs of touch-up or overspray, all internal bracing is original, and the bridge plate shows almost no string ball wear.
The gaps under some of the fret tangs suggest this has been refretted, but if so that was a long while ago. And neck straightness and angle suggest it may have had a proper reset, also probably long ago (this has been in a California collection for many many years). Sure sounds good!
Comes in a new case with proper fit.
Specs
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Back sides
Mahogany
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Binding
Tortoise Style
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Bracing
X-Bracing
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Bridge
Rosewood
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Fingerboard
Rosewood
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Finish
Gloss Nitrocellulose Lacquer
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Frets to body
14
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Neck material
Mahogany
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Neck shape
Soft V
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Nut width
1 11/16"
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Rosette
Style 18
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Scale length
25.4"
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Top material
Sitka Spruce
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Tuners
Original Grover
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Year
1959
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Case type
Hardshell
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Serial number
165854
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SKU
MAR0018-165854
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UPC
121001
