Quote:
Originally Posted by patticake
we were at gc hollywood today, and there was what was labeled as a 1902 martin. i had been under the impression that martins that age were nylon string, but this one was using steel. on the other hand, it looked like they were added later, and the top was bellying. anyone here know if a 1902 martin parlor would have come with nylon or steel?
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Neither. A 1902 Martin would have been built with gut strings in mind. Steel strings were around by that point, brought to North America mainly by Italian immigrants who used steel strings on both their mandolins and their guitars. But nylon hadn't been invented yet, and steel strings hadn't yet achieved the market dominance they'd have some twenty five years later.
One of the design features that commonly confuses people trying to restring old parlor guitars that they find - whether built by Martin or some other firm - is that these old guitars usually have pin bridges on them.
Nowadays that's sort of a code that's evolved: pin bridges = steel strings. But back then pin bridges were used with gut strings. The player would tie a knot in the end of the string and the pin would wedge it into place at the bridge.
Ball end steel strings were a later adaptation used to fit this previously invented pin bridge.
Anyway, the dimwits at Guitar Center Hollywood are threatening the structural integrity of that old Martin by putting steel strings on it. What they should do is pull those strings off immediately and replace them with ball end nylon strings - Ernie Ball makes a set, and so does LaBella.
So, Patticake, will you be good enough to call the manager and tell him or her this, or should I do it from here in Alaska?
It needs to be the manager who's spoken to - your average heavy metal doofus working as a sales clerk at Guitar Center is probably not someone with whom we want to entrust the future of an old Martin....
Wade Hampton Miller