mhacker
Mar-05-2010, 11:05pm
Friends, if anyone has access to a Martin Style 20 pickguard, I'd be deeply appreciative for information. Thanks. Michael
Paul Hostetter
Mar-08-2010, 5:23pm
I assume you see some screwholes, which will tell you which kind of guard is appropriate (there were several). In any case, if it's like these, making a replacement would be fairly easy. Do you still have the metal bracket?
http://www.vintageinstruments.com/photos/inst20/29model20bod.jpg
http://www.gruhn.com/photo/MF7585.jpg
And one in ebony, note the screw position.
http://elderly.com/images/vintage/90U/90U-4485_body-front.jpg
There may be an earlier iteration of this ebony one in hard rubber.
delsbrother
Mar-08-2010, 6:26pm
Is that last one similar to (or the same as) an L&H 'guard?
Paul Hostetter
Mar-08-2010, 9:05pm
Similar indeed, and the hard rubber ones were even more similar. I think they only used the hard rubber the first year, 1929. I've seen them on Style 15s, and the photo of the Style 20 in the Longworth book sure looks like Vulcanite (or whatever they called it) too. After the Vulcanite, they used ebony, briefly, then did the typical plastic one.
Here's an old friend, now gone, named Riccardo Tunzi, with whom I played a ton of good music. He bought his Style 15 new in 1929. He'd just made some money, he wanted a good mandolin, so he walked into Sherman & Clay in SF and this was on the wall, and he bought it. It's the very first Style 15 ever made. Ironically, years later Gryphon had the other one made in 1929, which it's safe to say was also sold by Sherman and Clay. There were only two made in '29 (but more than a hundred Style 20s) . This one has (as did the other) the Vulcanite guard, which got quite a bit of wear, as you can see. I have a slightly later one with a celluloid guard.