MARTIN STYLE TYPES BY ZACHARY FJESTAD
I’ve recently received a few requests for information
about the differences amongst
the various Martin style types.
So this month, I’ll briefly cover
what those two digits next to
the letter or numbers inside
your Martin guitar represent.
C.F. Martin & Co. has
most certainly been a pioneer
in many ways when it comes
to building guitars. But in my
opinion, one of their most
important innovations was how
they began naming their guitars, a system that is still in use
today. Martin started building
guitars in 1833, and by 1898,
they were using a standardized
system to number their instruments by body shape and style.
The first letters or numbers
indicate the body shape (0,
00, OM, D, etc.) that are followed by a style number ( 15,
18, 28, 45, etc.), and separated
by a dash. These style numbers indicate the construction
materials and appointments
of the guitar, and this system
allows for several combinations between body shapes and
styles. The following are the
main style-classifications for
Martin guitars.
Style 15: All-mahogany
body, no binding, rosewood
fretboard and bridge, dot
inlays, single grouping of
soundhole rings. For many
years, the Style 15 was Martin’s
least-expensive guitar and considered a workhorse.
Style 18: Spruce top,
mahogany back and sides,
multi-ply binding (5-ply since
1932), rosewood fretboard and
bridge, dot inlays, multi-ring
soundhole ring. The Style 18
originally featured rosewood
for the back and sides, but was
changed to mahogany in 1917.
Style 18 appointments have
appeared on virtually every
Martin model and it is their
most common style.
Martin style types (left to right): Style 0-15, Style 0-21, Style 00-17, and Style D- 28.
Style 21: Spruce top,
rosewood back and sides,
single-ply black or tortoiseshell
binding, rosewood or ebony
fretboard and bridge (
depending on the model). The Style
21 was traditionally Martin’s
least-expensive model that
used rosewood.
Style 28: Spruce top,
rosewood back and sides,
multi-ply binding with a white
outer layer, ebony fretboard
and bridge, dot inlays, a back
stripe, and 5/9/5 grouping
of soundhole rings. Style 28
instruments are often regarded
as the best-playing, best-sounding Martins.
Style 35: Spruce top, 3-piece
rosewood back, a bound fretboard, and additional black-and-white lines inlaid beneath
the bindings. Otherwise, Style
35 is very similar to the Style
28. The 3-piece back was introduced because large enough
pieces of Brazilian rosewood for
2-piece backs were becoming
increasingly difficult to obtain
in the 1960s.
Style 42: Spruce top, rose-
wood back and sides, ivory/
ivoroid binding, abalone
top-border going around the
fretboard, bound-ebony fret-
board with snowflake inlays,
and an abalone soundhole ring.
ZACHARY R. FJESTAD
is author of Blue Book of
Acoustic Guitars, Blue Book
of Electric Guitars, and Blue
Book of Guitar Amplifiers.
For more information, visit
bluebookinc.com or email
Zach at guitars@bluebookinc.com.
