SN 69016.  1934 Martin O-17. Well restored and tons of tone. Custom-fit Cedar Creek tweed AVS case.

++++ original Grover tuners, sings sweet as a bird, set up for playing not displaying. All mahogany. Rosewood fingerboard. Bridge not original but still instrument spec accurate rosewood, pickguard also spec accurate. One of the easiest playing necks ever made on a guitar. Sometimes you find bar frets around this year of the O-17 - though this one has the much more effortlessly-played soft bevel "standard" frets.

++++ Def. played throughout its life, and loud - there are overt traces of pickup and knob installation on the top - and it possibly once was used as bb gun target practice.*

++++ Significant repair and restoration work from luthiers Charlie Hoffman and Bill Tippin, and now a vigilant check-up schedule with Mike Dove.

++++ A Summer 2002 Philly guitar show find (I actually went to that show to play Lowdens, but walked off w. other kits). Back then O-17s were nothing special in the pw Martin field - they made a million of 'em in their day, so to speak - but an 80y.o. Martin has the voice of an 80y.o. Martin, you know, in their golden era when they had talent that could just crank out amazing, amazing guitars - and the mahogany just had a visual pull that beat the thousands of other instruments on the racks there. This is the guitar that got me back into guitar playing after years dedicated solely to banjo and fiddle, and it's the same age as my father, made near where he grew up — so there are loose sentimental overlaps.

++++ This is old wood rode hard, but it has the celestial tone you just don't hear anymore. Long crossed over into the "stories it could tell" category. It's had two side cracks, top cracks at the fingerboard extension (see pics), holes from former tailpiece and pickup mounts plugged over its 84 year life. It's all there, they don't hide. Significant attention paid to them and everything now fixed, stabilized, and/or cleated, save over the last couple of years: a 1.5-2" topside crack at bridge running horizontally, and at the lower bout top brace in the soundbox (note the pic with the mirror - you can't really see the crack in the pic, but that's the area where it's going on) and there's some bellying around the bridge at the upper string area. Very tough to capture in pics, so I've marked up the images to show where they are. My repairman and I have been watching those - they're not really at point to address right now, not moving - but they're worth keeping an eye on over the years. This kit won't need a neck reset anytime soon.

++++ ca. 2008 I opted for a refinish. Someone in the 70 years of its life before I found it had already executed a miserable refin job, layering at least 1/8" of lacquer over it. Since we already were past the "original finish" point - it made sense to see what a proper job and light coat would unlock from the '34. Bill Tippin recommended a stem to stern refinish, more cracks stabilized, new neck reset, and his master's touch. It unlocked an energetic, loud, reverberant and sustain-laden voice, the balance that only comes from old kits - in the diminutive O-17 size - that usually takes modern luthiers medium strings and premium woods to deliver. At that time we also removed the anachronistic C.F. Martin headstock logo it had on it when I purchased it in '02 - so it presents clean. ("Is that a Martin O-17?" ... "If you gotta ask, you'll never know"). In 1934 some O-17s had them, and some didn't - and I opted for the stealth look of the latter. Bill said it could handle lights (I'd been using silk and steels prior) and should be played with them - and it's been strung/restrung with lights since.

++++ In 2008 I also had a custom-fit tweed Cedar Creek AVS case made. Rates $600~ish itself. O-17 sells with, of course - and it's in excellent condition.

++++ Soundclip in embed.  

soundcloud.com/branyoner/another-seeker-without-a-plan

Iphone mic, chords, Irish exit.  Also

soundcloud.com/usefultree/lorem-ipsum-connors

AND

vimeo.com/297988827

usual preface - I don't do the '34 any favors, it's via an iphone mic and in a laundry room with laundry spinning in the background - but what's a guitar listing without hearing the guitar itself, and think it might capture for someone how this kit enables instantaneous expression, even if you're going for a simple, elliptical and meditative moment. You really bond with this guitar, the vibration of the wood. So light to the hand. A neck you just glide around.

++++ That's also to say there's a zen and energy this guitar pulls out of you: "I’ve come to think of tools as granters of permission. Things from which an artist can divine permission — the permission flowing either from the formal attributes of the tool to artist, or from the artist’s perception of the tool back into themselves. Either direction gets you to the same place. Many of us, to varying degrees, fetishize certain objects as having magical powers that enable, most often, creative processes." Craig Mod - "Tools and Creative Permission" May 1, 2017

I'm letting go to commit to some kits for the long haul, maybe line up the art of the possible for new grails.

With restoration and playability - rating this VG w/ the vintage condition score handicap.

If you're looking for a collector-grade, immaculate Martin - your quest doesn't end here. If you're looking for a vintage that's a player with a sound you can't find anymore, well-restored and plenty of life in it, this 84y.o. survivor is worth your consideration. Sold as-described. Will ship only via 3-day or faster carrier option. Thanks!

(*that's Bill Tippin's theory. Mike Dove thinks it's the evidence of a series of different pickup mounts throughout its life).