"How to Build a Guitar" - Martin

A friend sent me this link about Martin.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/28/magazine/martin-guitar-factory.html

I like that step #20, stringing. If I string very many guitars, will I develop big muscles too ?

clear said:

I like that step #20, stringing. If I string very many guitars, will I develop big muscles too ?

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It worked for me.

Jerryc41 said:

It worked for me.

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Changing your G-String??

Stagehand said:

Changing your G-String??

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As you can see, I went with a Low-G String.

It's a little staggering that Martin has such a high level of automation (CNC necks! Laser cut soundboards!), yet there is a photo of a person using a chisel, freehand, to carve the braces.

dwizum said:

It's a little staggering that Martin has such a high level of automation (CNC necks! Laser cut soundboards!), yet there is a photo of a person using a chisel, freehand, to carve the braces.

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I think for high-end guitars, the bracing has to be matched per-instrument to get the right sound. So, this is an area that's very hard to automate. BTW, if I had to guess, I'd think the PLEK machine step is their more recent addition.

Indeed - but I think there's a strong argument that many other steps which can potentially influence the sound are automated at Martin (soundboard thicknessing, cutting the brace stock, etc). And - there are other high-end brands that pre cut bracework, yet aren't automating other things that Martin automates. The black art of tuning a soundboard as you carve the braces isn't really that black when you look at what it boils down to.

At the end of the day, when I see photo essays like this, I wonder how the decisions about the process were made. I'm afraid to admit how many hours of my life I've spent on Youtube watching wood get turned into stringed instruments!