Inventing the American Guitar is the first book to describe the early
history of American guitar design in detail. It tells the story of how a
European instrument was transformed into one with all of the design and
construction features that define the iconic American flat-top guitar.
This transformation happened within a mere 20 years, a remarkably brief
period. The person who dominates this history is C. F. Martin Sr.,
America's first major guitar maker and the founder of the Martin Guitar
Company, which continues to produce outstanding flat-top guitars today.
After emigrating from his native Saxony to New York in 1833, Martin
quickly established a guitar making business, producing instruments
modeled after those of his mentor, Johann Stauffer of Vienna. By the
time he moved his family and business to rural Pennsylvania in 1839,
Martin had absorbed and integrated the influence of Spanish guitars he
had seen and heard in New York. In Pennsylvania, he evolved further,
inventing a uniquely American guitar that was fully developed before the
outbreak of the Civil War. Inventing the American Guitar traces Martin's
evolution as a craftsman and entrepreneur and explores the influences
and experiments that led to his creation of the American guitar that is
recognized and played around the world today. To learn more about the
history of the Martin guitar, click here to view the video and article
from BBC, How Martin Guitars Became an 'American Stratavarius'.
