MARTIN GUITAR
ous sales trips throughout the Northeast, Martin’s decision ultimately paid dividends. Within just a few short years, guitars sales reached more than 200 per year, while annual mandolin sales hit approximately 100 – a signifi cant growth for the company.
In the early 1920s, the sudden popularity of another instrument – the ukulele – also dras- tically impacted Martin & Co. Originating in Hawaii, the ukulele gained fame in main- land America as a staple of the Jazz Age. The demand was so great that, in order to accommodate production, a large wing was built onto the North Street facility, doubling the factory’s size. In 1920 alone, it is estimated that Martin & Co. produced over 2,000 ukuleles, plus another 1,300 guitars. Although the ukulele “boom” was short lived, the prosperity it brought helped the company weather the immense hardships of the Great Depression, which began in 1929.
Like most companies, Martin & Co. was drastically aff ected by the Depression. Between 1929 and 1931, guitar sales plummeted to half of what they had been only a few years earlier. To keep employees busy, Martin & Co. diversifi ed its production line to include violin parts, and even briefl y experimented with producing wooden jewelry out of scraps of rosewood. In an attempt to stimulate sagging guitar sales, Frank Henry Martin also began an aggressive product development campaign. Although most of his innovations were short lived, two major developments – the introduction of the large Dreadnought guitar and the creation of the 14-fret neck – would remain staples of the Martin line. The 14-fret neck would even go on to become the standard in the American guitar industry.
The company’s next major shift came following the end of World War II in 1945. After Frank Henry Martin passed away in 1948, his son, C. F. Martin III, took over. At this time, the popularity of folk music, and, with it, guitars, rose steeply. So great was the demand for Martin guitars that by the early 1960s Martin & Co. was backordered up to three years!
But because the North Street factory was limited in both space and layout (being several stories tall, the building forced workers to carry guitar parts up and down narrow steps – a time-consuming and potentially dangerous practice), C. F. Martin III and his son, Frank H. Martin, decided to once again move locations. In 1964 Martin & Co. moved into
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