1974 Martin 00-16C

S/N #333981

This is a Martin 00-16C classical guitar, serial number 333981, indicating a build date in the first part of 1974. The top is finely grained bearclaw Sitka spruce. The back, sides and neck are mahogany. The scale length is 25 ¼,” the nut width is 2” and the string spacing at the bridge is 2 5/16.” The depth of the neck at the first fret is ¾” and it is ⅞” at the ninth fret. The slotted headstock has an Indian rosewood headplate, affixed with the C. F. Martin & Co. decal at the top and three-on-a-plate Waverly classical guitar tuners. The nut is bone and the fingerboard is Indian rosewood with 19 frets and side dot markers at the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, twelfth and fifteenth frets. The bridge is made of Indian rosewood and it is the wide classical type with rounded ends and a tie block for the strings. 

The interior is fan braced in the classical style. Martin has made fan braced instruments throughout their history, though only sporadically. In 1915, they built a few prototypes for steel string Hawaiian guitars. These were made of Koa with spruce tops. They were built with fan bracing because Martin was worried that X-bracing wouldn’t be strong enough to handle the extra tension required for a steel string Hawaiian guitar! The pattern was reintroduced for their “C” line of classical guitars in 1962. These instruments, including this example, do not employ the Hauser body shape common to the Spanish classical tradition. Instead, they are built upon Martin’s 00 and 000 body shapes. 

Only the top is bound with black celluloid. The top purfling is four ply white-black-white black celluloid. The rosette is a nine ply inner ring surrounded by a pair of simple black strips. The back has a single thin ebony back strip. The original matte finish has survived with only a few chips at the edge of the treble side back, a few strum marks and a few isolated scuffs and marks. The neck has been buffed to a dull sheen from years of play. There is an area of finish checking around the center strip on the back, running the length of the strip. The original frets are full height with only light signs of play. 

This 00-16C has a balanced tone with plenty of projection. It comes with an original blue molded Martin 00-size hard shell case. It is fully functional and in excellent cosmetic condition.