The full title, Inventing the American Guitar—The Pre-Civil War Innovations of C.F. Martin and His Contemporaries shows the editor, Peter Szego’s intentions, and also the book’s origins in the first Early Martin Guitar Conference in 2008.
C.F. Martin was born in 1796 in Markneukirchen, Germany and came from a long line of cabinet makers and woodworkers. His father, Johann Georg Martin, also built guitars. By the age of 15, C.F. Martin was supposedly apprenticed to Johann Georg Stauffer, a well-known guitar maker in Vienna, although this claim has never been corroborated by Viennese primary sources. (The identity of Stauffer’s five apprentices in 1811 is documented and Martin was not among them.)
Martin returned to his hometown after completing training and opened his own guitar-making shop.
At that time European craftsmen operated under the guild system. The guitar (in its modern form) was a relatively new instrument, and most guitar makers were members of the Cabinet Makers’ Guild. The Violin Makers’ Guild claimed exclusive rights to manufacture musical instruments. To prevent cabinet makers from producing guitars, The Violin Makers’ Guild filed appeals on three occasions. Johann Martin is mentioned in a surviving submission dated 1832.
Although the cabinet makers successfully defended their right to build guitars, C.F. Martin decided that the guild system was too restrictive and moved to New York City In 1833 . By 1838 he moved his business to Nazareth, PA.
The rest is history!
I came across an early C.F.Martin guitar in St.Ives in Cornwall – it was in a shop full of tourist knick knacks and curiosities, and it was hanging on the wall. It was old, with a bone or ivory bridge, and imagine my surprise on further inspection that it turned out to be similar to an 1840’s Spanish Style Guitar, with C.F.Martin, New York, on the inside. The price was too high for me (also a bit of a shock at the time!), but I am saving up…
Back to the book:
The book’s essays not only examine C.F. Martin’s own work and instruments but also explain many of the other outside influences that affected Martin’s journey. The various guitars in the book are also photographed in a consistent fashion and accompanied by relative-size charts that make it easy to compare different models.
While the research in Inventing the American Guitar is exceptionally scholarly, the book is also an entertaining read that sheds much insight on the birth of the American guitar. Plus, the reference materials are exquisitely detailed, making the book an essential addition to any guitar collector’s library.