Martin Guitar Factory Museum.

[JEStanek]

So I've lived like an hour away from here for almost 20 years but never been before today. Well, I don't play guitar and they don't make mandolins anymore. The fancy clock work guitar is the 2MM Martin built. They also had the 1MM and 1.5MM. Many more guitars than mandolins in there (duh).

Photos: Factory entrance, Sidewalk out front, Zither, wall of mandolins, Mandolin fret slotting jig, first mandolin in space, Arch top Mandolin, and the 2mm Martin Guitar.

Jamie

[MikeEdgerton]

It's nice to see they moved it to the old building. The last time I photographed it (the pictures are here someplace) they had it in the new building.

[Bob Clark]

Hi Jaime,

Did you go on the 'Behind the Scenes' factory tour?

For those who don't know about it, you have to book in advance and there is a fee. It's a few hours long and is in groups of about six or fewer. It's guided by retired employees (at least mine was, by a 40-year employee) and you get to speak with a bunch of people along the way. Considerable time is spent loking at their tonewood inventory. It's amazing. Plus you get a cool hat when it's over. I highly recommend it!

[MikeEdgerton]

When I took the tour it was guided by a current employee that didn't know what kind of top woods he was looking at. It's a great tour anyway, at least it was.

[Bob Clark]

When I took the tour it was guided by a current employee that didn't know what kind of top woods he was looking at. It's a great tour anyway, at least it was.

I guess it's a roll of the dice, and the tour varies with what guide you get. My group heard a lot about the wood inventory from our guide, and then connected up with the person in charge of that inventory. We were shown lots of samples and had really detailed explanations about the various woods. He would pull out pieces, squirt alcohol on them to show the grain more clearly, and then speak about characteristics of the wood. It was fascinating. If someone was not a geek about these things, they might have been a bit bored. As for me, I loved it. Can't wait to go again!

[Denny Gies]

Definitely worth a visit.

[JEStanek]

Bob Clark, the museum tour is now self guided and I missed the factory tour (which is free). My son and I spent the morning at Bushkill Falls hiking and taking pictures and just missed the 2:30 cut off time for the tour. The behind the scenes is for groups and does have a fee. I would have enjoyed the factory tour but, it wasn't in the cards this time. My daughter who is far more musically talented (ie. she practices) than me and I will try and hit the tour as well some other time. I appreciate seeing how they make the instruments and the steps involved.

Like I said, I'm not a guitar player but I did enjoy the exhibit (esp the Ukes and Mandolins) I especially liked Chris Martin's personal collection as well.

I did pick up for free a beautiful Fretboard Journal size and equally well produced brochure with articles on the special instruments and signature models they have available. It was beautifully done.

Jamie

I think anyone in our community here would enjoy the visit. You can be in and out of the museum in 15-20 minutes. I would bet the tour would be a lot more interesting.

PS: the museum had those audio tour things but I didn't pick one up (headphones with an input to learn more about specific pieces in the museum)

[Mike Arakelian]

I've been to the Martin factory and have done the tour twice although the visits were 15 and 20 years ago. The museum has, or at lleast used to have, a side room full of various Martin guitars that you could pick up and play to your hearts content. I didn't see any of their mandolins though. Both tours were conducted by Martin employees and were fascinating. Many of the line employees are guitar players, and they were all friendly and informative, and seemed to enjoy talking about guitars and their work.. We even got to go through the section where they make Martin strings. I think most any string musician would enjoy this tour...I'd love to do it again!

[Jim Garber]

This thread has photos of the museum when I visited in 2013 and it was still in the new building. There is also a link in that thread to an earlier thread started by Mike E.

[JEStanek]

I've been to the Martin factory and have done the tour twice although the visits were 15 and 20 years ago. The museum has, or at least used to have, a side room full of various Martin guitars that you could pick up and play to your hearts content. !

There is still a picking parlor at the back of the museum gift shop. Many different guitars and an amp. I didn't go in.

Jamie

[Willie Poole]

I was in the Air Force with Mike Longworth and when I found that he was working at the Martin factory I made a trip up there to see him and when I got there he was on vacation so I took a tour of the factory and at each station the worker would take time to explain what he was doing. I really enjoyed it and that was just about 20 years ago and I would love to go again, it`s really not that far either....I did buy some abalone inlays to make my el cheapo guitar look like a D-45...

Good thread, thanks for posting it...

Willie