| I can vividly remember
many trips to the Martin facility in Nazareth Pennsylvania in the early
70's with Jean Larrivee. We were invited down by the then head of
R&D, Don Thompson, for open exchange of ideas.
Part of our visit
would always involve Don sticking a voice coil on the bridge of the latest
Larrivee creation, attaching a frequency generator to the coil
and recording the response on a Brush Chart Recorder (to see why those
Larrivee's sounded so good!). In exchange we would get a tour
of the Martin production facility. I can recall many times
Jean would seem to disappear during the tour only to be found lying on
the floor with only his legs visible poking out from under a jig or specialty
tool, inspecting the inner workings (in anticipation of making one
himself!).
I also remember the wood
selection process at Martin. There was one person who 'candled' each
top (checking for hidden sap pockets) and rated both the tops and backs
as '18 series' , '28/35/41 series' and finally, a very small
pile of wood that qualified for '45 series'. Only the very finest
of the fine tonewoods make it to the 45 series and only the veteran employees
are able to do the complex abalone trim and inlay on this classic premier
Martin guitar!
| Martin D-45 Specifications
Dovetail neck joint
Sitka spruce top
Indian rosewood back and sides
Scalloped 5/16" bracing
Low profile neck
25.4" scale length
1 11/16" wide nut |
|
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