00:00 Carving this bracing is the most crucial step in building a CF Martin & Company acoustic
00:07 guitar.
00:08 But you won't even see it on the finished product.
00:12 This X-shaped pattern of wood under the hood is what gives Martin guitars their signature
00:17 sound.
00:18 It'll cost you at least $2,800 for Martin's most iconic American-made model, the D28.
00:27 But that's nothing compared to the priciest guitar Martin sells, a limited edition Dreadnought
00:32 that goes for $125,000.
00:36 And on the secondary market, the instruments sell for even more.
00:41 Some of the oldest in Martin's collection are estimated to be worth nearly half a million
00:45 dollars.
00:47 This is our pre-war D45.
00:49 This guitar sold for around $240 when it was new, and now it's worth six figures, well
00:54 into six figures.
00:56 And while its reputation among celebrities contributes to the brand's popularity, musicians
01:02 say there's a one-of-a-kind sound a Martin acoustic guitar makes.
01:13 So what exactly makes these guitars sound different?
01:20 And is that why they're so expensive?
01:28 My goal is to make a million-dollar Martin.
01:30 I haven't done it yet.
01:32 Chris Martin IV is the sixth generation of his family to run the company.
01:37 His namesake, Christian Frederick Martin, founded the company in 1833.
01:42 I work at a company that makes the best of its kind.
01:46 I work at a company that makes the real thing.
01:49 We're not making a commodity.
01:50 We're not making a copy of a Martin guitar.
01:53 We're still making the original Martin guitar.
01:56 Martin employs about 1,100 people across its two factories in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and
02:02 Navajo, Mexico.
02:04 The craftspeople in Nazareth work on the high-end models and custom designs.
02:10 It all starts with selecting the right wood.
02:13 Guitars and other instruments use what are called tonewoods.
02:18 These have special properties that vibrate and transmit the ideal sound for musical instruments.
02:24 Typically, spruce is used for the tops and bottoms, rosewood for the sides, and maple
02:29 or mahogany for the neck.
02:31 But Martin uses a wide variety of woods for its instruments.
02:36 These tonewoods are responsible for the clear, bell-like tone that musicians like Craig Thatcher
02:42 say is a key difference in Martin's acoustic guitars.
02:45 Every guitar has their own voice, particularly acoustic guitars.
02:51 And there is a Martin tone, a Martin voice that you can distinguish when they're hearing
02:57 it on the radio, hearing it on records, hearing it being played on movie soundtracks.
03:01 The Martin guitar really stands out.
03:04 That tone.
03:05 It's a full and rich, vibrant sound with deep and full basses, a really great mid-range,
03:12 nice high end that cuts through.
03:15 The tops and bottoms are not one piece, but actually a panel that has been carefully sliced
03:19 in half and opened like a book, then glued together at the edges.
03:25 This book-matching helps create a perfectly symmetrical pattern.
03:31 These pieces are then checked for quality in a process known as candling.
03:35 Candling is a light that shines through the wood.
03:41 And back in the old days, they used to use a regular candle and do it like that, but
03:46 now they upgraded it, thank God.
03:49 Dee has been with Martin for 21 years, and she has spent the last nine working in the
03:54 candling department looking for any imperfections before they progress any further down the
03:59 assembly line.
04:01 What we do is we grade the wood.
04:03 It goes from two to eight, and then what we do is we candle to look for any sap pockets
04:11 or pitch pockets or knots or anything like that.
04:15 Like Dee, many of the workers in Martin's factory have been with the company for a long
04:20 time.
04:21 Rodney Tashner, who currently runs the laser cutter, has been working the line for 33 years.
04:28 We are running a 400-watt laser machine here, cut out all the tops, sides, backs, most of
04:34 all, pretty much all flat stock that's run on here.
04:41 The next step is the most crucial to Martin's signature sound, the bracing.
04:47 Bracing refers to a hidden pattern of wood glued under the top of the guitar for structural
04:52 support.
04:53 All acoustic guitars require bracing, but designing effective bracing is complicated.
05:00 Because the guitar's top is the most important factor of its sound, it's crucial to not burden
05:05 it with too much wood.
05:07 One of the things when you're looking at an acoustic guitar, you want it to be structurally
05:12 sound, but you also want it to sound good, because if we brace this too heavy, the top's
05:17 not going to vibrate freely.
05:18 And if we don't brace the top strong enough, it could just implode on itself.
05:24 In the 1840s, Christian Frederick Martin invented this X-pattern, which provides plenty of structural
05:30 integrity without sacrificing tone.
05:32 The design was so successful that almost all steel string acoustic guitars made today use
05:38 the pattern.
05:39 And, you know, what's that old saying?
05:41 If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we are very flattered because we are very
05:47 imitated.
05:48 A craftsperson will glue the pieces onto the surface with fish glue and use this machine
05:54 to hold everything in place while it dries.
05:58 These thin pieces of wood are positioned and then carved into the right shape based on
06:03 each guitar model.
06:06 After I take the guitar, I'll shape down all the braces to a certain size and sand them
06:11 down and round them out.
06:13 Every model has its own particular needs.
06:16 They're all very different and we do have to memorize quite a bit of them.
06:21 There's about like 50 different patterns that I have to memorize.
06:26 I started back in September and it took me about four months, five months before I could
06:32 really start doing these myself.
06:35 There is a lot of training that goes into it.
06:37 The sides of the guitar are separate pieces of rosewood, which are steam pressed into
06:42 this curved shape and glued together to form the rim.
06:46 A perforated ribbon of Spanish cedar is attached around the edges for additional support using
06:51 clothes pins.
06:53 The ribbon adds surface area that will assist with attaching the top and bottom.
06:58 As much as we do on the outside, we try to clean up all the glue inside and make sure
07:03 all of the ribbons where it should be and, you know, braces are fit nice and snug in
07:09 their pockets.
07:11 Aluminium casting is used to attach the top and bottom to the rim and hold everything
07:16 together while it dries.
07:18 Next, either this machine or a craftsperson cuts a channel around the edge of the guitar,
07:23 a process called freezing, to make space for the binding strip.
07:32 The body is sanded and sprayed with fillers, sealers, toners and stains to protect the
07:39 wood.
07:41 And it's left to hang dry in a curing room at a high temperature until the finishing
07:46 has hardened.
07:48 Though many steps of the process are still done by hand, Martin has started to incorporate
07:52 robotics into its assembly line, some of which were built and designed in-house in its machining
07:59 department.
08:02 This giant robotic arm, for example, suctions onto the wood and is programmed to buff each
08:07 body at very specific pressures.
08:11 The necks of the guitars go through their own parallel production process.
08:15 First, they're cut separately into identical base pieces.
08:19 Then, they're sanded down into shape by hand.
08:24 Each model requires a different neck shape, so craftspeople use these metal gauges to
08:28 keep all the shapes consistent.
08:30 Then, the fingerboard, frets and nut are added at stations down the line.
08:39 But before a guitar can be glued together, a technician will perform a pre-fit to ensure
08:44 everything aligns perfectly.
08:47 Steve Miller has worked for Martin for 26 years, and for him, it's a family tradition.
08:53 Yeah, we have a lot of family.
08:56 I could sit here and go, my uncle, my aunts, my sister works here.
09:01 I had a grandfather that worked here.
09:04 Yeah, we go back way back, since 1833.
09:09 Once assembled, the guitar goes into this machine, called a pleg, which simulates the
09:14 tension of the strings and makes computerized adjustments to the frets to ensure the guitar
09:19 is perfectly intonated and playable.
09:23 But the final and most crucial step is to string up the guitar and play it.
09:29 Only a human being like Matt Hotchkiss is suitable for this task.
09:34 This is my first job in the factory, yes.
09:37 I was lucky.
09:38 I've been a musician for about eight, nine years now.
09:40 I went to school for music, came out, and then I started working here.
09:44 Just inspecting guitars has been a dream, so it's been great.
09:47 My grandfather had an old '76 D35 that I've been playing since I was very young.
09:52 And it was important to me to work here when I graduated college, just so it lived on through
09:57 my family and through me.
09:59 Matthew will make sure everything looks perfect before stringing the guitar, tuning it, and
10:05 gluing on the pickguard.
10:08 It does take a steady hand to make sure you get it right, but we do use a little bit of
10:12 a marking to make sure.
10:14 We also look for any type of defects within the guitar, like any dents or anything that
10:20 has happened throughout the process.
10:22 And last but not least, he will test it out.
10:34 And place it in the case for the customer.
10:46 Martin's guitars have evolved significantly over the 200 years of the company's existence.
10:52 Just take a look and listen to this model from 1834, the oldest guitar in its collection.
10:57 You can see it's very different from what we build now.
11:00 There's a heavy violin influence.
11:02 It has maple back and sides that figure a body shape.
11:09 The company invented the iconic extra large dreadnought style guitar, named after a World
11:14 War I battleship.
11:17 Martin saw a surge in demand for its guitars during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many people
11:22 stuck at home looking for something to do.
11:26 It's seen about 20 to 30% growth per year over the last two years.
11:32 So COVID created a guitar boom.
11:35 It wasn't a boom that was good for everyone in the music industry.
11:38 It was good for you if you made something that you could play at home or home recording.
11:43 It was not good if you made giant stadium PA systems.
11:47 But the popularity of acoustic guitars also means more trees being cut down.
11:52 So Martin says it's made a big push towards sustainability.
11:56 They're called rare exotic timbers for a reason, because they're becoming more rare and more
12:00 exotic.
12:01 So we not only have to be more judicious in how we use these traditional woods, we absolutely
12:08 positively have to look for alternatives.
12:12 While Martin guitars may be expensive, price isn't the only consideration for dedicated
12:17 guitarists.
12:19 When you put the money into a guitar, you expect it to really respond.
12:24 It becomes, it's almost like it's a part of you.
12:28 It really, it's an extension of the artist.
12:32 And why would you not want to have the best that you possibly can afford?
12:38 And though high-end guitars tend to age like wines, increasing in value and quality over
12:43 time, Chris says players shouldn't buy Martins as just a monetary investment.
12:49 Having a Martin guitar that you can play is more fun than looking at your 401k account.
12:54 And if at the end of the day your old Martin guitar was worth more than your 401k account,
13:00 bonus.
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13:21 [MUSIC]
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