Incredible Martin Guitar – 157 yrs. old!

Check out this video of Jerry playing a vintage Martin Style 2-27 Parlor guitar that was built in 1859!

That’s right, this guitar is 157 years old! It looks brand new and it plays and sounds fantastic. Jerry ran it through a bunch of different styles: classical to blues to rock to tapping. Yes, he even dared to tap on this guitar and the guitar said, “Yeah, I can handle that!”

Just a bit about the guitar:

Very early Martin build – they began in 1833 and this style of guitar was only about 15 years old in 1859

Early example of X- bracing which radically changed how guitars were built

The back is Brazilian rosewood laminated over spruce

The neck has a clearly pronounced V shape

All binding and tuners are elephant ivory – because plastic was not invented until the 1930s (modern form)

Now a bit of what was going on in history around 1859:

Lincoln was not yet elected President (1860)

The American Civil War was still 5 years away (1861)

Telegraph was main form of communication

Recorded music did not exist – 1877 Edison

Only 33 states in the union

Stephen Foster was most popular pop song writer

Lightbulb not invented until 1879

Packaged toilet paper was invented in 1857

Thanks to Alex Kosak for recording the audio and video on his mobile studio.

Thanks to Deb Huke for setting up the guitar and asking me to play it.