C. F. Martin & Company - The 1960s

The 1960s

During the late 1960s, Martin manufactured hollow-body electric guitars similar to those manufactured by Gretsch. Martin's electric guitars were not popular and the company has since continued to concentrate on the manufacture of a wide range of high quality acoustics. They also reinstated the famous D-45 in 1968.

During the 1960s, many musicians preferred Martin guitars built before World War II to more recent guitars of the same model. The pre-War guitars were believed to have internal bracing carved more skillfully than later instruments, producing better resonance, and tops made from Adirondack red spruce rather than Sitka spruce. Additionally, 1970s Martin dreadnoughts suffered from poor intonation in the higher registers. Some luthiers and repairmen attribute this to a gradual trend of misplacing the bridge on these guitars: the same jigs for bridge placement were used throughout the history of each model's production. As the amount of production increased from the Martin factory, the jigs eroded, resulting in inaccurate bridge placement. This was eventually identified and corrected.