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Thread: Martin with extra sound hole!

  1. #1
    Registered User fox's Avatar
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    Default Martin with extra sound hole!

    Amazing what some folk will do!
    Look at this for sale in the UK
    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Very-rare...MAAOSwrGVgXfJv

  2. #2
    Registered User Ed McGarrigle's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Kind of heartbreaking

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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Oh my! I guess the idea was to be able to hear oneself play, but that big of a "soundhole" ... why?

    I wonder whether it had been damaged, and the owner decided to modify it rather than repair it. Went a bit overboard, I reckon ...

    "Very unique and rare" - yes, I daresay so. One of a kind, I imagine.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

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    NY Naturalist BradKlein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    That is indeed a very rare mod on a 50s 5-15T.

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    But I expect it will find a good home, and of course, it'll be quite a conversation piece around the song circle!
    BradKlein
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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    I'm going to hazard a guess that the instrument had some serious damage that preceded the alligator dentistry fix. Nobody would do that without some sort of forced prompting. What I'd love to see would be the article where Frank Ford fixes it so it looks and sounds original and you can't see the repair. That would be entertaining.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
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    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  8. #6

    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Not exactly a "Full mahogany body" anymore.
    Tenor Guitars: ARTIST TG100EQ (CGDA), Fender Tenor Tele (GDAE).
    Mandolin: LM-220.
    Others: Seagull M4 "Merlin"(DAdd), Ashton BNJ50 Banjo, Epiphone MB-100 Banjo.

  9. #7
    Registered User Bren's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Possibly someone who played in pub trad sessions mostly, which can get pretty noisy, and wanted to hear themselves.
    Bren

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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    I see it’s located in Norwich - the famous acronym!

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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray(T) View Post
    I see it’s located in Norwich - the famous acronym!
    Unfamiliar with the reference, had to investigate. Quite an amusing footnote to history. They missed some, including C.H.I.N.A.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bren View Post
    Possibly someone who played in pub trad sessions mostly, which can get pretty noisy, and wanted to hear themselves.
    Entirely likely. But that could have been accomplished with a much smaller area devoted to the task. The size bespeaks necessity, damage to such an extent that such an extensive modification was required.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  12. #10
    Registered User mandotool's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    When is a guitar also like a basket, and a chair, and a steak?

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  14. #11
    Registered User fox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    I am surprised but it looks like somebody has bid £750!

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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    That is astonishing! I wonder, what is the approximate going rate these days for a vintage Martin tenor guitar, in good shape? That is, one that hasn't been massacred ... er, mangled ... er, marauded ... er, what is the word? Oh, yes - modified.

    Quote Originally Posted by mandotool View Post
    When is a guitar also like a basket, and a chair, and a steak?
    You know what that looks like to me, is the material used to cover the speaker on an old-time radio. Some amps, too. Or a chair.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  17. #13
    Registered User fox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    The last one I saw on EBay was a a very good one and went for £1300 but I have not seen one for sale in the last few years.

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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Quote Originally Posted by fox View Post
    I am surprised but it looks like somebody has bid £750!
    That's $1028.87 for the folks in the states
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  19. #15
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    That's $1028.87 for the folks in the states
    I don’t kow if that’s expensive for the states but prices over here, at least for such things a Martin, Gibson and Fender guitars, tend to be relatively high.

  20. #16
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    There are two on Reverb that are asking twice that that I doubt will sell. I think that's below the price here if it was perfect. It's not but then again people spend silly money on Martin guitars and Gibson mandolins that are destroyed.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  21. #17
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    But this IS a unique, one-of-a-kind instrument - one hopes and prays!
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  22. #18

    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    ...but then again people spend silly money on Martin guitars and Gibson mandolins that are destroyed.
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    $700

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/1927-Martin...p2047675.l2557

  23. #19
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Should have hung in there. It went for $701.50. You were this close ...

    Anyone care to guess what's going on in the third photo? Two different guitars with different injuries? Or what? And why?

    BTW, that glue job on the neck-body join is ... ah ... sorry, words fail.

    Doesn't seem worth it. But ... It's a Martin.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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    Registered User fox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Incredible!
    Click image for larger version. 

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  25. #21
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    So it went for £380 less than the other one you mentioned from a few years ago, even with this unique modification. Astonishing!

    Also, it attracted only two bidders.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  26. #22
    Registered User fox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Personally I could not live with it like it is so I would of had to attempt a replacement side.
    I did think about it, perhaps I could find a vintage mahogany six string and and somehow use the wood and on that basis I though I would offer the guy £300 when it did not sell!

  27. #23
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Yes, the original asking price of £750 was cost-prohibitive for any such project. The final price that much more so.

    I wish I could remember what I spent for my 1935 National steel Triolian tenor guitar back in the 90s - probably around half the starting price. I'll grant she's not a Martin, but she's a wonder.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  28. #24
    Lord of All Badgers Lord of the Badgers's Avatar
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    Default Re: Martin with extra sound hole!

    Quote Originally Posted by fox View Post
    Incredible!
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    Makes you realise how desperate some are to get a vintage Martin.
    I don't even play mine - but at least it doesn't have "a custom soundhole" - well not since one of its cracks got repaired

    Funny isn't it - I reckon if I'd posted mine up there'd be people wasting my time over an old and much settled bit of damage. I recently had a guy tell me my six string had a dent to get money off (it was already stupid cheap)... to which I said "have you seriously never seen bearclaw before??!". I couldn't even bother to be nice about it, and I'm usually polite as can be!
    My name is Rob, and I am Lord of All Badgers

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