Official Luthiers Forum!

Sounds like it's great David. It's on my Xmas list.

Steve

Nice Dave!!!!!
I need to get a copy as soon as I can.

Mike

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Mike Collins

I got mine. Just looking at pictures so far. Looks wonderful.

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Walter Lay
"It's taken me so long, but now that I know
I can see. All that I do or say, is all I ever will be"
- Billy Joe Shaver

Walter,
Did you pre-order through Amazon??

I'm not Walter, but I did pre-order through Amazon. It is "Being prepared for Shipping" and should be here on Friday.

David, I read about the book in the NYT this morning and called a local bookstore. They had one copy and I grabbed it.

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Walter Lay
"It's taken me so long, but now that I know
I can see. All that I do or say, is all I ever will be"
- Billy Joe Shaver

Thanks Walter,
Great to know it's actually in the bookstores.
Enjoy!

I was excited to see this review, disappointed to read it. It would have been nice if the NYT had found a reviewer who knew a little about guitars. The early 19th century Martins are fascinating bits of history. They are not very good guitars. They have had no influence on modern classical guitar construction (I hope). The X-brace guitars that they evolved into were ideal for steel strings. (Martin's fan-braced guitars were hopelessly over built. It's lucky that steel strings came along.) Martin's influence on steel string design can't be overstated. In the 1930's they really nailed it. In the 18 hundreds, several contemporary classical builders were way ahead of Martin. Their designs are the foundation of modern classical guitars. To this day, Martin hasn't made a credible classical guitar.

It fascinates me that as conservative as the classical guitar world is, innovations such as Western Red Cedar tops, lattice bracing, and Nomex double tops have come from the classic side.

Regarding the early 19th Century Martin guitars Eric wrote:
"They are not very good guitars. They have had no influence on modern classical guitar"
That is true in that the overwhelmingly influential work of Antonio Torres started just as the period of development we chroncle was winding down.
The whole point of the book (or at least my chapter anyway) is to point out that today's familiar "Bluegrass Hoss" owes a number of it's stylistic features to the early PRE-TORRES Spanish (Cadiz) guitar and was not cooked up entirely from C.F. Martin's Snr's fertile imagination.
We also chart the very quick transition of Martin from his "Stauffer" models to the new Spanish inspired types which, though as you state are not (from today's perspective) great guitars and were not influential on today's classical guitars, but were for the time something of a leap forward from the Vienna models and lead directly to the now ubiquitous signature Martin style.

I pre-ordered mine through Amazon and am looking forward to reading it.

When I want to read about Torres' influence on the CLASSICAL guitar, I'll buy a book about THAT.

However, I want to read about how the modern Martin Steel String design developed and it seems that this book will fit the bill nicely!

While I appreciate Eric's opinion, it seems to me he criticized the book based on an erroneous expectation, rather than what the book was intended for.

I didn't order it expecting to read about C.F. Martin's influence on the modern classical guitar, or how todays innovations in that field developed.

I'm glad I won't be dissapointed!

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I should have spoken more carefully. I've been looking forward to reading this book since I first heard about it. I still am. Given David's knowledge of early Martins and the traditions of classical construction, I'm sure that the historical context is well explained in the book.

I was put off by the reviewer. Here in the States (and in some other countries), classical guitars have become a very small part of the market. Those of us who work on them sometimes get a little touchy when yet another article comes along that makes it sound like C.F. Martin invented the guitar. I shouldn't be so thin skinned.

The early Martins were built for gut strings, and they were crude instruments compared to other gut stringed guitars built at the same time (respectable workmanship, but poor sound). They evolved in some remarkable ways to become great steel string guitars. I'm glad that a book is available that explains that evolution. I'll have to read the book. I'm particularly intrigued to know how the leap to the x-brace happened, and at what point players started putting steel strings on them. I'm also curious whether there were any notable workers at Martin whose ideas were important contributions. Everybody knows about Lloyd Loar at Gibson. Were there comparable designers at Martin?

Well, what was wrong with the reviewer?

He seems to get it right, from David's comment.

The reviewer says"
" The most important of those new influences, “Inventing the American Guitar” demonstrates, was Spanish. Most notably, Martin abandoned the Austro-German system of lateral bracing to reinforce and support the guitar soundboard in favor of Spanish-style fan bracing, which he then adapted into the X-bracing style that is the hallmark of Martin and other modern guitars.

“The most fundamental features, things that we take for granted in Martins, he wasn’t doing before he discovered Spanish guitars,” said Mr. Szego, an architect and collector. "

Seems like he captured the point of the book. It certainly doesn't sound like the reviewer OR the book writers think that C.F. Martin invented the guitar, but rather, came to America and carved a niche for himself adapting ideas from the Spanish style into the American steel string.

I can't wait to read it!

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I hope both of you enjoy the book!
Hint:(without giving too much away) Remember that Spanish guitars (i.e. made in Spain) C. 1840 are quite different than those produced later under the influence of Torres' work.
Eric, I think you'll find some of these instruments anythng but crude.
Also the "leap" to X bracing was much more incremental than you might think.
The analysis presented (which I wrote) is, I think, the first logical explanation of how this came about and why.

I pre-ordered the book, and it arrived last Friday. Unfortunately, I left yesterday on a "luggage limited" trip, so I didn't get a chance to do more than glance at it. Looks very nicely done on that glance. I'm anxious to get back home to read it.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

Here's an interesting review:

http://www.fusion.net/culture/story/xen ... ate-131250