Martin Guitars: 175 years of sound
Traveling through the rolling hills of Pennsylvania's farmland, one can almost hear the music of days gone by.
The sounds of an old guitar seem fitting for the rustic buildings and small towns that you pass through. It's almost as if you're being drawn in, closer and closer to where the sound originates: C.F. Martin Guitars in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Walking through the front doors of the factory, nicely tucked into a residential neighborhood, the floors are shiny, the smell of "newness" in the air, but somehow it feels old. It feels like you're stepping into a part of history. And you have.
Martin Guitars was established in 1833 when C.F. Martin, along with his family, immigrated to New York from Germany. Upon visiting some friends in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, the Martin family decided to trade in the hustle and bustle of New York for the open space and German heritage of rural Pennsylvania.
The story of Martin Guitars is not just one of building acoustic instruments, but also one of family. The company has passed the business down from one Martin to the next. While many guitar makers have been sold to corporations, Christian Martin IV, the company's current owner, speaks of the responsibility he feels as the fourth-generation family owner.
"Although other guitar makers may have the name, and they certainly do appreciate the history and the heritage, in my case, it's in my blood."
continued at http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/05/aif.martin.guitars/index.html
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