This old Martin, a small body “Terz” sized guitar from 1920, is proof that sometimes guitars were just meant to survive. It is, unfortunately, a bit of a luthier’s special, however.

This small bodied, short scale Martin, the size made most famous by Marty Robbins, has been through the ringer and back again, with nearly a dozen repaired top cracks, bridge reglue, overspray, neck reset, refret, and a number of dings and dents.

The Adirondack spruce top has, unfortunately, been repaired rather amateurishly by grafting on large chunks of spruce as opposed to cleating each individual crack, most likely a 60’s guitar repair attempt to avoid having to repair multiple cracks simultaneously. The back has had several oversized cleats added as well.

The fretboard has been shaved, refretted with jumbo frets, and the nut shimmed. Original tuners, though!

All this being said, this guitar does still have a nice sweet tone, and plays very very well perhaps both despite and because of all the work done. Would be a great guitar for an experienced luthier to restore!

Comes with a non-original hard shell case.