Limited Edition C. F. Martin Arts & Crafts 2 Guitar #6 of 100

This is a beautiful and quite rare Martin Arts and Crafts #2 Limited Edition 000 guitar, built in 2007 for this limited run of 100. This 000 is built with rare tone-woods such as figured German white oak back and sides with an Engelmann spruce top, a herringbone top inlay, and a stunning gold pearl gingko leaves and vine fretboard inlay which extends to the headstock. The guitar sounds fantastic, and is still in overall excellent condition with the original case included. It is number 6 out of only 100 Arts and Crafts 2 guitars built.

Guitar is in excellent overall condition, with no breaks or previous repairs. Frets are in excellent shape. Minor wear on a single position on the neck (as shown in photo).  

Was my late husbands, information is as correct as I can gather – played only a few times.

Features

• Model: Arts & Crafts 2
• Construction: Mahogany Blocks/Dovetail Neck Joint
• Body Size: 000-12 Fret
• Top: Solid Engelmann Spruce
• Rosette: Bold Herringbone with Black/Maple Fiber
• Top Bracing Pattern: Standard ''X'' Scalloped
• Top Braces: Solid Sitka Spruce 1/4''
• Back Material: Solid German White Oak
• Back Purfling: Rosewood & Oak Dovetail Design
• Side Material: Solid German White Oak
• Endpiece: Solid East Indian Rosewood
• Endpiece Inlay: None
• Binding: Solid East Indian Rosewood
• Top Inlay Style: Bold Herringbone
• Back Inlay: Black/Maple Fiber
• Neck Material: Select Hardwood
• Neck Shape: Low Profile
• Nut Material: Bone
• Headstock: Solid/Diamond/Square Taper
• Headplate: Solid East Indian Rosewood /Golden Era C.F. Martin Block” Gold Mother-of-pearl
• Heelcap: Solid Indian Rosewood
• Fingerboard Material: Solid Black Ebony
• Scale Length: 25.4''
• # Of Frets Total: 20
• Fingerboard Width At Nut: 1-3/4''
• Fingerboard Width At 12th Fret: 2-1/4''
• Fingerboard Position Inlays: Ginkgo Leaves Inlaid in Gold mother-of-pearl
• Finish Back & Sides: Polished Gloss
• Finish Top: Polished Gloss With Aging Toner
• Finish Neck: Polished Gloss
• Bridge Material: Solid Black Ebony
• Bridge Style: Pyramid Stauffer Style
• Bridge String Spacing: 2-1/4''
• Saddle: 16'' Radius/Compensated/Bone
• Tuning Machines: Antique Gold with Large Buttons
• Recommended Strings: Martin Studio Performance Light Phosphor Bronze (Msp4100)
• Bridge & End Pins: Solid Black Ebony
• 4 lbs, 3 oz.

Additional Info on Guitar and this Limited Edition Series:

C. F. Martin Arts & Crafts 2 Limited Edition #6 of 100 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (2007), made in Nazareth, PA, hand signed by CF Martin IV on the label. Natural finish, figured German white oak back and sides, Englemann spruce top; mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, original brown Tolex hard shell case.

This is one of the more interesting custom Martin models of the past couple of decades, designed as a tribute to an American aesthetic movement instead of a particular artist or historic instrument. Martin’s intention was to honor the more austere “Arts & Crafts” aesthetic that flowered in America between the eras of Art Nouveau and Art Deco in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Following a positive response to an Arts & Crafts Dreadnought model introduced in 2006, this Arts & Crafts 2 was conceived as a guitar more redolent of the actual era that birthed the titular movement.

This is a 000 sized 12-fret Acoustic Guitar, #6 of a Limited Edition run of 100. These were a somewhat unusual design for Martin, built with quartersawn figured German white oak back and an Engelmann spruce top, a unique ginkgo leaf fingerboard inlay motif, and a pointed-belly pyramid bridge.

This tastefully decorated 12-fret 000 has mostly 1900s style features including a 1 3/4″ nut width, though it is built with the “modern” solid headstock most modern players seem to prefer. The top is bordered in bold herringbone and with no pickguard. Structural features include mahogany internal blocks and dovetail neck joint, top braces of 1/4″ Sitka spruce, and end piece and outer bindings of East Indian rosewood. The low profile neck is mahogany and the nut and saddle are bone. The headstock is faced in East Indian rosewood with a “C Martin F” block gold mother of pearl logo and an inlaid pearl Ginkgo leaf floral border.

This is a long-scale guitar like a 1920s 000, 25.4″ nut to saddle with 20 frets total, a string spacing of 2 1/4″ at the 12th fret and 2 1/4″ at the bridge. The fingerboard is inlaid in an interpretation of the Arts and Crafts style with Ginkgo leaves inlaid in gold mother of pearl and a mother of pearl border. The aging toner top, as well as the sides, back, and back of the neck are all finished in Polished Gloss lacquer. The bridge is a Pyramid “Stauffer” style; the bridge and end pins are solid black ebony. The tuners are Gotoh Antique gold machines with large buttons.

The sound hole label is signed by C F Martin IV and bears the number #6 of 100. In a salute to the Arts and Crafts movement, the back stripe is made up of a repeating Rosewood & Oak Dovetail Design and on either side of the heel of the neck two rosewood squares are placed, mirrored at the end graft. This unique Oak guitar is an interesting and aesthetically pleasing instrument both visually and in sound quality, housed in a Geib style #535AC five-ply plush lined wooden case.

Overall length is 39 3/4 in. (101 cm.), 15 1/8 in. (38.4 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/4 in. (641 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).