1949 Martin 00-18

Impossibly beat, yet not without a weird desert island vibe. J.J. Cale played an old Harmony acoustic without a back on it. This one is better than that. That’s faint praise as it sounds great, really.

But sit down, this will be hard to explain. This is not for the faint of heart but as a working tool it’s kinda cool (hey I rhymed). First the X brace is now a star brace. Picture an asterisk or a star, an extra set of braces added of similar shape to make an asterisk or star shape. Then it came to us with the ugliest oversized green pickguard you can imagine. We took it off and yet it was installed to protect from further pick wear. Has a replaced bridge and bridge plate and the back and sides are refinished. Looks like poorly done lacquer. Also has 8 repaired cracks but oddly no b string crack. Most of the binding on the back is missing and a hole for a jack was filled and repaired along with an added mahogany square on the same side.

Now the good stuff. It’s a 1949 Martin so it has a Brazilian fingerboard and mother natures VTS (vintage tone system) i.e. aged wood. The tone is woody and bone dry. It has new frets with no wear and brand new low mass open back tuners. We also fixed all of the loose braces. The bridge saddle is right and the action is factory spec. It plays great. Has the typical 1949 neck with a slight V. The intonation is good, it plays in tune. Comes with a new Martin deluxe gig bag. For someone this is perfect in its imperfections. Sold as is with no returns. Best to come in and play it.