VINTAGE & UPKEEP > TRASH OR TREASURE
MARTIN STYLE A MANDOLIN BY ZACHARY FJESTAD
Hey Zach,
My grandparents are moving into
an apartment and my family is helping them with the move out of their
house. We came across this Martin
mandolin that had been in storage
for many years, and my grandfather
told me it belonged to his father.
The only numbers on the instrument are 129## and no one in my
family really knows anything about
stringed instruments. I do know that
Martin is a famous guitar maker,
but looking online, their mandolins
don’t seem to be worth that much,
which surprises me. Can you give
me a little history about this mandolin, what it’s worth, and why the
value seems to be so low?
Thanks,
Peter in Akron, Ohio
Hi Peter,
60 PREMIER GUITAR JUNE 2012
line with their style classification system,
mandolin production was actually outnumbering their guitar production! Flatbacked
mandolins made their debut in the mid-
1910s, and Martin continued to offer mandolins in some capacity through 2006.
Based on the serial number, your
great-grandfather’s mandolin appears to
be a 1926 Style A. With its spruce top
and mahogany back and sides, the Style
A utilized some of the same materials as
Martin’s Style 18 guitars. Other features
of this mandolin include rosewood body
binding, a mahogany neck and headstock,
ebony fretboard and bridge, four-per-side
tuners, an engraved tailpiece, and a tortoise
pickguard. The Style A was one of Martin’s
most popular models and was offered
between 1914 and 1995 as a standard production instrument. In the excellent condition it appears, your mandolin is currently
valued between $800 and $1,000.
But $1,000 is a far cry from the
$200,000 that Gibson F- 5 Lloyd Loar mandolins are currently fetching. So why the
disparity? For one, we’re talking about the
holy grail of mandolins with the F- 5. It has
become the elite instrument for mandolinists and the most common mandolin model
copied by other manufacturers. While
Martin mandolins are well-built instruments, they don’t have the tone and volume
of Gibsons. As a whole, Martin has never
been able to compete with Gibson when it
comes to building archtop and carved-top
instruments. Instead, Martin has become
the king of flattop builders in many ways,
while Gibson has ruled the archtop market.
The popularity of mandolins declined
toward the end of the 1920s, with guitars
becoming the instrument of choice by the
1930s. This didn’t mean there wasn’t a need
for mandolins, since many bands still used
them, so manufacturers like Martin continued to produce these instruments. And
Martin offered at least one standard model
until 1995, the year mandolins became
special order only. Not long after, all mandolin production in the US ceased in the
early 2000s, though Martin’s factory in
Mexico continued to build the Backpacker
model through 2006. Currently, Martin no
longer offers mandolins.
While Martin mandolins are not
viewed as very collectible among
Produced between 1914
and 1995, Martin’s Style
A mandolin was one
of the company’s most
popular models. This
1926 Style A features a
spruce top, engraved
tailpiece, and ebony
fretboard and bridge.
The back, sides,
and neck of
this 1926 Style
A are constructed from
mahogany.
In excellent
condition, the
mandolin is
currently valued
between $800
and $1,000.
mandolin enthusiasts, we shouldn’t forget
that without offering mandolins in the
early 20th century, Martin might not have
survived to become the renowned guitar
manufacturer they are today. Though
your Martin mandolin may not be worth
as much as you would have hoped, it is a
great instrument. And an even nicer heirloom since it has been with your family
for so long!
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.
premierguitar.com
