Joe Bonamassa and Martin have teamed up for a pair of signature acoustic guitars based on the blues star’s 1937 00-18.
One is a straight-up replica 00-18, a meticulous, forensic feat of reverse-engineering. The other is a Road Series Retro 00-10E, which shares the shade-top finish but comes with an onboard acoustic guitar pickup and a more approachable price tag of $1,299 (expect to pay $3,999 for the 00-18).
The fact that there are two at all still blows Bonamassa’s mind.
“If you told me when I was a kid that I’d be sitting here in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, with not one but two signature guitars, I’d be like, ‘You’re out of your mind.’ I never thought that it would be possible,” he says. “And it’s such an honour to do this. Truly, as a bona fide guitar nerd, this the epitome, this is the high-water mark for me, because it’s a Martin! It’s a Martin, so many years of history going back to 1833, in this town since the 1850s. It’s amazing.”
The original pre-War Martin that these guitars was based on was one of Bonamassa’s great vintage finds. It had been in the same family ever since it was bought in 1937. They even had the photos to prove it. Bonamassa’s buddy John Shults of True Vintage Guitar, out in Birmingham, Alabama, picked it up in Ohio. He knew just who to call.
“He sent me a picture of it, and he goes, ‘You’ll never guess, I found this Martin, and it’s got the picture of the guy who owned it originally,’” says Bonamassa. “There’s a picture of him with it, with the rope strap and a big old cowboy hat, playing this guitar in the ‘40s. And they kept everything: the original catalogue from 1937, where they went and circled ’00-18’ and didn’t know it was a shade-top, and it has the original price tag. It has the C.F. Martin logo on it, and the original price of this guitar was $45.”
Bonamassa’s 1937 00-18 is a stunning instrument, and it’s not just the age that makes it an uncommon find. Those shade-top finishes were not as common as the natural finishes. This replica has a solid spruce top, mahogany on the back and sides. There is GE scalloped X-pattern bracing, faux tortoiseshell binding, open-gear tuners and Old Style 18 inlays. It is a golden era instrument, and has been aged – but not the usual way.
Rather than wearing in the finish, the top is printed to replicate weathering on Bonamassa’s original.
The 00-10E is a spit of the original, too, only it swaps out the solid mahogany for solid sapele, it has the Martin E1 electronics, and was made at Martin’s factory in Navojoa, Mexico. It comes with a soft-shell guitar case.
Those electronics came in handy when Bonamassa tested it out the old-fashioned way, onstage, playing with a rock icon.
“The electronics sounded great,” he says. “First time I tested it, was trial under fire. I had this gig in New York with Slash, and we were doing an acoustic opener, and I didn’t have an acoustic guitar at my house with a pickup. And Martin had just sent over these two, and I was like, ‘Oh, cool. Its got a pickup.
“And I plugged it in. I was like, ‘Great! And so much so, I brought this one back so they could put that pickup in there ‘cos it sounds that good.”
The 00-18 Joe Bonamassa is available now, priced £4,195/$3,999 street. The Retro 00-10E Joe Bonamassa is priced £1,329/$1,299.
For more details, see Martin.
