A customer brought an old vintage Martin into our shop today to value it and possibly sell it.
From what I can tell, I believe it's from the 1920's but figured I would check with the rest of you first.
It is stamped on the back with C.F. Martin & Co. Nazareth, PA. It has the same stamp on the inside of the soundhole. It has no front decal (and the headstock looks like it might be too short for a decal so I don't believe it peeled off at some point). It has wooden violin style friction tuners. It also has bar frets rather than T frets.
I believe it is a style 1...it has some type of top binding...very similar in color to the mahogany body...maybe rosewood? It also has a 2 dot fret marker at the 7th fret.
It does have some wear...a crack in the front and back which has been repaired. The binding is separating a little at the lower bout. The binding has also broken off on the left side of the lower bout. It also looks as if the fretboard has deteriorated a bit where it meets the body.
Any extra insight you all could provide would be appreciated. Also, any ideas as to how much it might be worth would be helpful.
Pictures (taken with iPhone...sorry for the quality):
From what I can tell, I believe it's from the 1920's but figured I would check with the rest of you first.
It is stamped on the back with C.F. Martin & Co. Nazareth, PA. It has the same stamp on the inside of the soundhole. It has no front decal (and the headstock looks like it might be too short for a decal so I don't believe it peeled off at some point). It has wooden violin style friction tuners. It also has bar frets rather than T frets.
I believe it is a style 1...it has some type of top binding...very similar in color to the mahogany body...maybe rosewood? It also has a 2 dot fret marker at the 7th fret.
It does have some wear...a crack in the front and back which has been repaired. The binding is separating a little at the lower bout. The binding has also broken off on the left side of the lower bout. It also looks as if the fretboard has deteriorated a bit where it meets the body.
Any extra insight you all could provide would be appreciated. Also, any ideas as to how much it might be worth would be helpful.
Pictures (taken with iPhone...sorry for the quality):