A splendid Martin 00-21 from 1966, in absolutely remarkable condition.
Here is a rather atypical flat-top model among the range of guitars offered by Martin in the 60s: unlike the usual 00-18, 000-18, D-18 and 28 with 14-fret necks, the 00-21 is much closer in its construction and appearance to Martin’s productions of the 20s and prior.
The late 40s and 50s saw the re-emergence of folk music in the United States, marked by nostalgia for a timeless America very much in vogue in the post-war period and symbolized by the singing cowboys who populated each and every TV and radio set – these characters with a guitar in hand who could, through their song, express the highest aspirations of the human heart and mind. Beyond this colorful incarnation of the genre, folk music also proved to be an important vector of political expression – at the time of McCarthyism, it is understood that certain things were more easily said through music… The protest musician Woodie Guthrie and his circle of close friends such as Pete Seeger or Lee Hayes established the epicentre of the movement in Greenwich Village in New York, and were joined by many musicians sharing the same passions and convictions – notably, Bob Dylan or Joan Baez who would carry the genre into the 60s, with a real rise in following from the general public.
The instrument of choice for these artists turned out to be the American guitar of the pre-war era – more austere in its appearance than recent productions, often built in a reduced format ideally suited to the task of the songwriter. Martin, sensing this renewed interest in their vintage models, introduced in 1962 a line of instruments in the so-called “New York” style – a nod both to the new home of folk music and to the historic site where the manufacturer’s founding father, C.F. Martin, settled in the 1830s. This series took up all the attributes of the Nazareth-based manufacturer’s earlier productions, including a construction with a neck with 12 frets clear of the body, an open headstock, and a body with reduced proportions. However, the 00-21 model was already there: it is one of the rare Martins to have been continuously built as a 12-fret “standard” model while the rest of the range was converted to the 14-fret “Orchestra” model in the early 1930s. Thus, throughout the 30s, 40s and 50s, we note a meager production of a few dozen examples per year (for reference, 10 times more 00-18s were produced annually at the time), with a slight increase in the mid-60s – for the year of production of the example presented here, there were exactly 200 Martin 00-21s made. It is therefore, from all points of view, a rare model.
This guitar comes to us in very good condition, free of any damage or defects; the pickguard has been replaced by an exact reproduction – the original is preserved in the case, although it now bears more resemblance with a potato chip than anything else… We find all the characteristics of the style 21, which acts as an intermediary between the styles 18 and 28: spruce top; Brazilian rosewood back and sides, fingerboard and bridge (typical for the style 21, the rosewood is almost quartersawn, offering a very elegant longitudinal grain); multi-ply binding around the edge of the top and back with a tortoise outer layer; the bracing as well as the small bridge plate are relatively thin and light compared to those of the majority of Martins in the second half of the 60s, giving the 00-21 a surprisingly generous tone and projection considering the modest size of the guitar. We applied ourselves to the complete setup of this guitar, with a full levelling of the frets, the adjustment of the nut and the making of a new bone bridge saddle in order to recover a low and perfectly comfortable action, as well as an intonation adjusted to the T.
Sold in its original Harptone-made hardshell case.
CITES pre-Convention certificate for the Rio rosewood included.
