Back stripe on Martin Hogs

[hubcapsc]

Originally Posted by KalamazooGuy

The banner era skunk stripe. Very cool.

It was *very* cool and in great shape (new addition for a local collector). We
hear about "baseball bat necks"... I thought that meant, you know, big. But it
feels like the big end of the bat is at the nut!

-Mike

[KenL]

Here's a Martin hog with a rather fancy stripe.

20220219_155744.jpg

[teashea]

Originally Posted by KenL

Here's a Martin hog with a rather fancy stripe.

Attachment 70080

That is nice looking Marin has many versions of the back stripe.

[gmel555]

Originally Posted by sinistral

My Martin CS all mahogany 000-12 fret has a center strip that looks quite a bit like the photo above. My guitar has madagascar binding, bridge, fretboard, and headstock veneer AND the spec sheet also lists: 1/32'' Madagascar Rosewood Strip! A very close look reveals it is indeed RW color not black -just as John Arnold advised. Nice little bit of info, thx

[John Arnold]

I have seen black back strips on some of the older style 18 Martins. Those are probably dyed veneer, rather than ebony. Black dyed veneer is commonly used for purflings, and is often made from perneable woods like pearwood, maple or holly. They are easier to bend (and much cheaper) than real ebony.

[John Arnold]

Originally Posted by teashea

That is nice looking Marin has many versions of the back stripe.

That is the older style 28 back strip, commonly called the zipper or zig zag. It was discontinued in mid-1947, and was reintroduced on the HD-28 IN 1976. In between those dates, the only style 28 strip was the checker, or checkerboard.

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by John Arnold

I have seen black back strips on some of the older style 18 Martins. Those are probably dyed veneer, rather than ebony. Black dyed veneer is commonly used for purflings, and is often made from perneable woods like pearwood, maple or holly. They are easier to bend (and much cheaper) than real ebony.

This thread inspired me to go down the rabbit hole to see where the “Style 18 appointments” came from. The best source I found actually quotes John Arnold on a page discussing Martin’s transition from gut to steel strings and the use of steel strings on vintage martins (Vintage Martin Guitars — Strung Out)!

There isn’t a lot of discussion of the simple, black backstrip on Style 18 guitars other than a reference the backstrip being a standard spec on Style 18 guitars in 1902: Martin Style 18 Guitar Models:
Martin D-18, OM-18, 000-18, 00-18, 0-18. The reference doesn’t indicate what the backstrip is made of.

A separate page devoted to decorative backstrip details (Arrowheads and Other Treasures) describes Martin in the 1840’s borrowing the “straight-line” backstrips from Spanish guitars, and later using straight-line backstrips (as opposed to more ornate marquetry) on less expensive guitars. The discussion makes it pretty clear that a backstrip of any kind was considered fancier than no backtrip. This makes sense since, as an example, the 15 Series has no backstrip (or binding, for that matter) but the 18 Series does.

A Model 3 from 1898 with mahogany back and sides and a holly backstrip:



These are two examples of mahogany guitars made in 1919 for the Southern California Music Company: