vacamartin Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 On the UMGF a topic is on the "Meet CF martin" and Q&A. This was one of CF Martins contentions...can any of you verify it?....On the CEO-7 ..... "Line of the night He described the instrument as a "Martin copy of a Gibson… copy of a Martin" and noted that [paraphrase] "Even some folks at Gibson might not have known that theirs was a copy of an old Martin" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 While I have not read the thread an article appeared last year that actually talked about this. http://www.vintageguitar.com/19622/1933-gibson-l-00/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 I believe 1929 was the year the "current" L-series flat-top body style replaced the older version with the rounder lower bout (the shape we associate with the Robert Johnson guitar). You would probably want to look at Martin shapes from the 1920's to draw any conclusions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vacamartin Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 While I have not read the thread an article appeared last year that actually talked about this. http://www.vintagegu...33-gibson-l-00/ What I'm questioning is the claim by CF Martin that Gibson used a Martin prototype as their model for the Gibson L-00. Ever heard of the Martin prototype before? " "Even some folks at Gibson might not have known that theirs was a copy of an old Martin" .......that's what grabbed my eyes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 What I'm questioning is the claim by CF Martin that Gibson used a Martin prototype as their model for the Gibson L-00. Ever heard of the Martin prototype before? " "Even some folks at Gibson might not have known that theirs was a copy of an old Martin" .......that's what grabbed my eyes! Certainly the L-series planform has a lot in common with the 1920's OO planform, but how similar the guitars would be dimensionally if you had them side by side, I don't really know. Musical instrument makers have copied each other forever. For a good example, look at the history of the development of the "modern" (18th century on) violin, or the modern classical guitar. How Gibson would get access to a Martin prototype to copy in 1929, I have no idea. Martin certainly had access to plenty of L-series Gibsons to copy for their modern version. Which came first: the chicken, or the egg? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayyj Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 It's interesting when you follow the bracing patterns on the L1 and L0 models how the company tried at least three incarnations of their own bracing design before going to the X. The X brace used in the L00 design (actually also used in the last of the small body L styles in 1929) is undoubtedly derived from Martin and is the most significant thing to connect the L00 to the Martin 00, but it feels as though Gibson did their best to come up with something different and eventually conceded that the Martin design simply worked better than anything else. I prefer to see it as a symbiosis of ideas rather than one company copying another - after all, CF himself benefited a great deal from the work of Staufer and other Austro-German and Spanish makers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vacamartin Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 Great answers to my question from everyone. I think I took the quote to seriously, and literally. But I sure would like to hear CF himself elaborate on that topic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Not sure why anybody would care about any of this. Every guitar on the road today owes a big debt to both Martin and Gibson. And every guitar player on earth, except I guess those born with a silver spoon in their mouth, owes a big debt to Oscar Schmidt, Harmony and others and all those that came after them who built guitars they could afford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vacamartin Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Not sure why anybody would care about any of this. Curiosity as to why CF Martin would say the statement like he did! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanCarlosVejar Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 If you think about it Martin will always say everyone copied them .... The funny thing is gibson created their own legend. JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Because neither Gibson or Martin wants to admit they were copying Kay Kraft and Albert Shutt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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