Martin Mandolins

[South Hills]

I have an opportunity to buy a Martin Style A mandolin that was made in the late 1940’s. The price is right, but I am going to play it before I commit to buying it.

My research indicates that Martin mandolins are of the same quality as Martin guitars. They are described as sweet, resonant and well seasoned and are well suited for Old Time and Celtic, but don’t have the projection or volume and don’t produce the desired chop sound for playing Bluegrass rhythm.

I am looking for comments/recomendations from the experts out there. Thanks.

[nmiller]

Your research is spot-on. Martins have a beautiful, rounded sound, and the Style A's mahogany back/sides give it a bassy thump that's great for blues. Also, just because they lack the projection of a good F-5, it doesn't mean they're too quiet. Considering the overall build quality and the fact that you can get them for under $1000 in excellent condition, I'd say they're one of the best values in the vintage mandolin market.

[JEStanek]

Im not expert but they are nice mandolins and can often be found in the ~$1k to $500 range depending upon condition, and collectability. Fortunately, they don't have the collectability of the older Gibson archtops so the market is lower on them.

As to the sound, they are different from an archtop mandolin. Espescially from an archtop f holed instrument. They do have a fuller more sustained voice, in my epxerience. They are flat backed, cant topped instruments that often have woods other than maple for the backs yielding other tone colors. Don't expect a Gibson sound.

Personally, I'm a fan of flatbacked oval hole instruments. You can chop or play any style of music on one, without the f hole projection and faster decay, you won't get the traditional BG sound and your sound may get lost in a group playing BG. If you want to play OT, Celtic, folk, early classical and renaisance styles this would be a great fit.

Jamie

[Steve L]

I have one and like it, but IMHO it's VERY quiet comapred with to other mandolins including every flat top I've ever played. I don't know if it's standard, but my Martin and the one or two others I've played have 13"/violin scale length...almost an inch shorter than what we've come to think of as "standard". I'm not trying to be negative, just want you to get what you'll be happy with.

[JeffD]

I have played a few and I loved how they played.

[grassrootphilosopher]

There is not THE typical Martin mandolin. Unless you are more specific (unless I have overlooked something) an evaluation of your specific mandolin cannot be given. Martin mandolins are as well made as are their guitars. So there´s nothing to worry about workmanship.

As for Martin mandolin types (as far as my limited knowledge goes):
- There are Martin flat-top (or canted top) mandolins. I hardly know anything about them. Target group for these is - I guess - the classical musician. These - mandolins not musicians - have oval holes.

- There are Martin carved top mandolins. These have either oval holes of f-holes. The oval holed Martin mandolin have a following among oldtime artists or folk musicians. Bill Bollick of the Blue Sky Boys used a style 20 mandolin. F-hole Martin mandolins are the styles 2-15, 2-20 and 2-30. While they were very well made, they are much quieter than your Lloyd Loar powerhous (or your modern equivalents). I have had an encounter with an (I think) barely postwar 2-15. It looked very nice and vintage. It sounded very nice though it was by no means your average bluegrass machinegun. That though is not necessary if you look for tone. The tone was beautiful.

Let us know what you were offered and we´ll give you more talk about it.

[yankees1]

Martin mandolins same quality as their guitars??? Martin guitars are rated at the top but I don't think their mandolins enjoy that position! I had a 1939 Martin A and I quickly found it a new owner but that was just one .

[Steve L]

The OP was pretty clear that it was an "A" style Martin which is the flat/canted top with the oval hole.

[Willie Poole]

I am with Yankee on this one but also will add that Martin Guitars ain`t everything they are cracked up to be, I have seen a lot of them go back to the factory for various reasons, neck bowing, finish flaking off and bridge plate and saddle pulling up thats just to name a few....

I don`t mean to get away from the OP`s post but people are giving him advice about how good Martin products are and I am only putting in my opinion....Now the older Martin guitars are a different story, most were great and I guess they are living on that reoutation that they made from those models.....I have never seen one of their mandolins that did anything for me, but I am a bluegrasser.....Willie

[Rob Norton]

Martin mandolins same quality as their guitars??? Martin guitars are rated at the top but I don't think their mandolins enjoy that position! I had a 1939 Martin A and I quickly found it a new owner but that was just one .

Strictly in terms of workmanship and materials, I would say they are exactly the same quality as the guitars, and I think that opinion is shared by many others who know a lot more than I do. I've owned a few over the years, and the construction, fit and finish are consistently first-rate, even on the least expensive models; on the ones made in periods like the 1920s, the workmanship is amazing. Check out this 1926 Style E -- the equivalent of a "45" style guitar -- for sale at Gruhn's (NFI). 65764

[South Hills]

There is not THE typical Martin mandolin. Unless you are more specific (unless I have overlooked something) an evaluation of your specific mandolin cannot be given. Martin mandolins are as well made as are their guitars. So there´s nothing to worry about workmanship.

As for Martin mandolin types (as far as my limited knowledge goes):
- There are Martin flat-top (or canted top) mandolins. I hardly know anything about them. Target group for these is - I guess - the classical musician. These - mandolins not musicians - have oval holes.

- There are Martin carved top mandolins. These have either oval holes of f-holes. The oval holed Martin mandolin have a following among oldtime artists or folk musicians. Bill Bollick of the Blue Sky Boys used a style 20 mandolin. F-hole Martin mandolins are the styles 2-15, 2-20 and 2-30. While they were very well made, they are much quieter than your Lloyd Loar powerhous (or your modern equivalents). I have had an encounter with an (I think) barely postwar 2-15. It looked very nice and vintage. It sounded very nice though it was by no means your average bluegrass machinegun. That though is not necessary if you look for tone. The tone was beautiful.

Let us know what you were offered and we´ll give you more talk about it.

This is a later 1940's Martin Style A, teardrop shape, bent spruce top with oval sound hole, mahogany back, sides and neck, 20 fret fingerboard, 1 3/16" nut width, 13 1/8" scale. Thanks for your help.

[Capt. E]

Martin mandolins same quality as their guitars??? Martin guitars are rated at the top but I don't think their mandolins enjoy that position! I had a 1939 Martin A and I quickly found it a new owner but that was just one .

Most bluegrass players I know will say Martin for guitars and Gibson for mandolins. Certainly lots of exceptions, but it does seem to be a general rule.

[Paul Hostetter]

One thing not mentioned that sets Martin mandolins from all those modeled after Gibsons is the 13" scale, which is one fret shorter than a Gibson.

I have also noted on a number of occasions over the years that in ensemble settings with lots of Gibson mandolins and other instruments, the Martins cut way more than the Gibsons. It's not a fat sweet tone for the player, but from across the room or out in the audience, the little Martin As really penetrate.

[brunello97]

I have one of each: Gibson A and Martin A. (Okay, more than one of each. I am very fortunate.) I love them both for different and sometimes the same reasons. If you have the $$ then buy it, you won't be disappointed. I once read a short but compelling explanation of how objects could reach Buddha-dom. The Martin A mandolin is a Buddha.

Mick

[allenhopkins]

I bought a late 1920's Style A last year; paid $750 w/hardshell case. If you're buying a 1940's Style A, you almost certainly have no worries re: quality, although like any used instrument, it doesn't hurt to have a "diagnostic" by a good instrument tech.

My Style A has a sweet, clear voice, with some mid-range timbre, and is plenty loud. You won't get a percussive "chop" like a carved-top f-hole instrument, and you probably won't get the "tubby" sound of a carved-top round-hole mandolin like a Gibson A-model. The shorter neck makes it easy to get around on fiddle tunes, and double-stop tremolos on the interior strings are really rich-sounding. I use light gauge strings and a medium-weight Dunlop Ultex (.60mm) pick.

Re: "projection and volume" -- the treble voice of the Style A is clearly audible in a multi-instrument environment. What you don't get is the throaty "whop" and percussive punch of a long-neck, carved-top, f-hole mandolin. IMHO the Martin Style A is a tool suited for some uses, not others -- which you could say about any mandolin, I guess. Depending on the price, I don't think you'll go wrong with it.

[raulb]

I have a '53 Martin Style-A. I will put it up against any mando, even an F-style, for sound and projection. Like Martin guitars, the sound is a bit "woody." The only thing I hesitate doing is playing chop because the fretboard is in contact with the top and I don't want to scratch the top if I can avoid it. I play all types of music with the Martin and it does fine. They are excellent mandolins. Funny, I don't like the sound of Martin guitars, but I like the sound of my Martin mandolin.

[nmiller]

Funny, I don't like the sound of Martin guitars, but I like the sound of my Martin mandolin.

Same here. I don't care for their guitars, but I think they made the best flat-topped mandolins of all the big pre-war manufacturers. (I haven't played any Martin archtop mandos).

[brunello97]

Raul, I also have a '53 Martin A and it sounds like angels singing. Maybe it was a very good year, or we both are lucky. My wife gets jealous when I play it. I get goosebumps. I hope all three of us are together for a long, long time.

Mick