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Are there any resources for detailed specs for pre-war martin guitars. I'm curious about top/back/side thicknesses, sizes and shapes of braces, brace location etc, bridge plate material/size, etc... I'm sure it's out there somewhere I've just never seen it. I'm curious about the evolution of those sort of things throughout the history of the martin line and how it's been applied/modified by the modern small shop builders building similar instruments like Santa Cruz, Collings, Huss and Dalton, etc.

does the book Martin Guitars A Technical Reference cover that material
http://www.amazon.com/Guitars-Technical-Reference-Revised-Updated/dp/1423439821/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

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"All of us contain Music & Truth, but most of us can't get it out."
- Mark Twain

It takes a bit of digging to get all the information but the umgf.org is the best place that I've found for that kind of info.It's pretty much all there.

John

John Platko is right on with that info. You might look up John Arnold who hangs out there and who also has been here of late.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Contact John Hall at Blues Creek Guitars. (sponsor here)

Man know's his Martin's!

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Guitar Building = Continuous Improvement Process

The two Martin books do not really cover technical details such as plate thicknesses, but rather appointments for different models throughout the years, and superficial info on bracing etc. Regardless they're a must have if you're interested in the history of the steel string guitar.
Various GAL articles and plans are available, whether it's a complete restoration with very precise measurements, or plans without super detailed dimensions, do a search there.
Of course the best people to contact are those who actually worked on those instruments, rather than believe hearsay.
Specifications varied greatly depending on the decades, modern interpretations of the pre-war guitars are vastly overbuilt compared to the original ones.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Double post.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

B&S thicknesses were all over the map. I have measured as thin as .055" (no that's not a typo) and as thick as .095".

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

wow thanks for all the info everyone. Todd that stew mac article is exactly what I was looking for as far as bracing.

for anyone interested here is a link to the article: http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0051.html

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"All of us contain Music & Truth, but most of us can't get it out."
- Mark Twain

Here's the Stewart MacDonald Dread with the shift.

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Wisdom is justified by her children

If there is one thing I have learned over the years , is that there is a good bit of inconsistency though slight. The one point that is often stated about the X being 1 inch below the . There was also a slight shift of the finger braces . One other variation is the end of the braces . One time they were scalloped another time tapered. The cross sectional shape also has some variations.
One thing that did stay fairly consistent was bridge plate thickness . I find that to be .100 most of the time. I also note that most x braces were between 98 degree and 93 degrees. I havn't see the 100 degrees but I am sure there were some that may be out there. Martin did have a wider tolerance that they do now. I had the honor of meeting Marcellus Trach a few years ago. He was in the plant and worked for Martin at the time of the shifts. He recollection was that the pattern that was made was on the Dred only though he admits that a few of the 000's may have been affected.
On the guitars that didn't have the popsicle ( this was on the dred only and was put on because of tops caving in ) the neck block was 1/4 inch thicker than the modern one. I own a 0-28 from 1857 that has a popsicle brace and 5 back braces. UMGF has a great reference in the technical section . I can't stress this point enough , that at this time Martin was just a guitar so there would have been single pieces that may have gotten out the door that had some things out of the norm.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

http://www.vintagemartin.com/

This site doesn't have much technical info on bracing but has the most beautiful pictures of vintage Martins. Not just 1930's and newer, but 19th century guitars too. Lots of big, high res pictures. Just FYI.

Like it has been said in earlier posts, go to the UMGF for bracing and technical details. Great site too.

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds