John Wanamaker Guitar by C.F. Martin
As many Martin guitar aficionados can attest, the Nazareth, PA factory produced instruments for a variety of sellers imprinted with the resellers own label, stamp or brand. Oliver Ditson, Rudolph Wurlitzer and the Southern California Music Company are some of the names that may come up when discussing rare Martins. One of the more arcane resellers of Martin guitars was the Wanamaker’s department stores in New York and Philadelphia. According to the new book, “Martin Guitars: A Technical Reference”, by Richard Johnston and Dick Boak (the two book set revises and updates the original Martin Guitar book by Mike Longworth), Martin made a few “special models” for John Wanamaker about 1909. On page 233 of the book, an image of the Wanamaker stamp is shown. In a recent discussion with Dick Boak, it was disclosed that he’d heard of the Wanamaker Martins, but had never seen one. He also stated that the Martin archive retains the original Wanamaker stamp. In another discussion with a prominent and long-time Martin guitar dealer and collector, it was reported that he’d seen only one guitar with the Wanamaker stamp. So we here at vintagebluesguitars.com were thrilled to take possession of a Wanamaker Martin, even though we didn’t know it was a Martin guitar when acquired.
Wanamaker Martin before restoration
Based upon the guitar’s dimensions and woods, this example specs out to be a model 2 ½ – 17. Currently, this little gem is waiting to undergo careful repairs, to include crack and ding repair, reproduction pyramid bridge, neck set, and the necessary set up work to get the guitar stable and playable again. In the meantime, here’s a report on the nuts and bolts that make up this unusual Martin, arranged much like Mike Longworth’s seminal book on Martin guitars:
Total Length – 36”
Body Length – 17 5/8”
Width Upper Bout – 8 3/8”
Width Lower Bout – 11 ¾
Depth Upper Bout – 3 1/8”
Depth Lower Bout – 3 ¾”
Width at Nut – 1 ¾”
Width at 12th Fret – 2 ¼”
Diameter of Sound Hole – 3 ½”
Scale 24 ½”
Bridge – 5 ¾” x 7/8”
Bridge ‘Wings’ – 1 3/8”
Cedar Neck
Ebony Fingerboard
Rosewood overlay over headstock
Spruce top
Mahogany back and sides
Bar frets
Engraved brass tuners w/ bone/ivory buttons
Top bound w/ rosewood; wbwb purfling
Sound hole binding three parts: bwbw – Rope in green/brown/black – wbwb
Ebony end pin with Brazillian strip inlaid where sides join
X-braced with two diamond shaped cleats over the seam of the two-piece top
End block overlaid with thin vertical strip
Oval ink stamp on mahogany heel: John Wanamaker Originator New York Philadelphia Paris w/ ‘G’ stamped below?
Date (’09?) and one initial written in pencil underside of top
“Around 1909, special models were made for this large Philadelphia department store.” P 255 Washburn and Johnston “Martin Guitars” 1997
Beautiful grained mahogany back
Sound hole rings possibly unique to the Wanamaker guitars
Original tuners and hint of cedar neck