Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi! I wish to get plans for an accurate repro of a 0-size, 12 frets to the body Martin replica - Thinking of the Joan Boez guitar.

Let me know! Thanks!

I can't say how accurate they are, but I just bought a 12-fret 0 plan from cadguitarplans.com here:

https://cadguitarplans.com/product/pdf- ... uitar-plan

They look OK to me, but no documentation is provided. At a minimum, I think they should say the serial number(s) of the source guitar they were drawn from, but nothing is provided. They include two scale lengths: 24.9, which would be accurate, and 25.52, which wouldn't be authentic to original 0 12 fret models, as far as I know. The plans give dimensions and state that the kerfed lining should be "mahogany or poplar." I think Martin mostly used Spanish cedar for linings, and I never heard of them using poplar. Both pyramid and belly bridges are shown. I don't know what the Joan Baez model used. Maybe belly bridges were used for late 20th Century versions. There is no info on purfling, rosettes, and so on. People wanting to create "authentic" copies of Martins tend to spend a lot of effort on details, and this is a fascinating and meaningful activity, or an endless investment of time for diminishing returns, or something in between, depending on your point of view.

Given that these plans are $19.47 ("on sale") as a downloadable pdf, which is not too bad IMO, and that no other plans are available that I know of, I went ahead and bought them. They seem thorough in terms of shape and structure.

The site http://www.vintagemartin.com/ seems oriented to collectors and other enthusiasts rather than luthiers in particular, and gives few measurements, but excellent pictures are provided, and I expect to use that as a resource when I try to build a 12-fret 0. If you search the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum, and post questions there, you can probably get more information on Martin 0 models.

_________________
Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

The martin series of guitars have changed a number of times through the years. The plans that Tim got actually came from tracings that I passed along and ended up at cadplans site.
They came of actual old patterns from Martin so they are pretty close to the older era. While the patterns were not dated they appeard to be quite old and were post 1920 and pre 1945

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

John, thanks so much for posting! It's very helpful to know that.

As you mentioned, because the guitars changed over the years, "accuracy" is a moving target. I don't know about the OP's goals, but In my case, I'm not aiming to create an authentic historical replica. "From actual old Martin plans between 1920 and 1945" works fine for me.

_________________
Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I ended up having a short conversation with John - Nice fella!

About 25 years ago I owned a 1903 Martin 0
size guitar I can’t Remember which exact model but it was an 0 size 12 fret.

I made tracings of it and notes on the bracing structure.

I used a bigger soundhole than was on the Martin.

Here is a picture of the one of the guitars I made from that pattern.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That looks like nice Cuban Mahogany on that one Brad

Yes, it is.

This is a very beautiful instrument! Tastefully done! Were the bracing and top very light? A 1903 would have been braced for gut strings- how did you compose with switching the instrument to steel strings?

When I got the guitar it had steel strings on it. You could see where the original holes were filled from the friction pegs that had been replaced with mechanical tuners. I have heard that people sent guitars back to Martin to do this....
Yes, it had very light traditional X bracing, but not that light. The top had a nice belly to it,but was holding up fine. It was on the verge of needing a neck reset.

I used only extra light strings on it.

On the ones I build I am only going a little heavier with the bracing and my tops are a little thicker as well.