Someone on Flatpick-L posted a link to these photos of a tour of the Martin factory. Is it just me, or does this have much more of an assembly line feel than the Collings factory? I especially felt that way about hundreds of necks being cut at once, and stacks of sides and backs that seem to be bent/cut in mass quantities instead of from matched sets for each guitar.


Martin Factory Tour Images

Yikes! Henry Ford would be proud of some of those shots.

I would think they would have to run it more like an assembly line to get the production numbers they put out.
I think Martin does something like 60,000 guitars per year. That HAS to be assembly line.
No way you can hand shape necks etc. and produce anywhere near those numbers.

Apples and Oranges.

Can't compare the two. Business plans/objectives completely different.

Martin and Taylor and Gibson, yes.

Factory and boutique small shop, no.

What's amazing, and a compliment to Martin, is the amount of wonderful guitars that do come out of that assembly line process.

I played a new Martin OM just the other day. Basic model. Nothing fancy. Alive, vibrant, open, resonant, loud. Having owned or played the alphabet of noted solo/boutique builders, I'd put this guitar right up there. Almost calls into question the whole mystique of the advantages of solo/small shop guitars if they're this good off the assembly line.

Marccd, interesting, since I had the opposite reaction. I own two Collings OMs and a Cruz OM, and I've played a whole lot more OMs. I recently played a new Martin OM-28 Marquis, I went in wanting to like it, but it didn't do anything for me. Could be subjectivity, but I think its something else. Some Martins I've played I really like (loved a Juber model I recently played), others nothing. Could it be the assembly line......But I agree with you; can't compare large companies and small to medium builders.

For a Factory that produce over 100,000. I am actually quite impressed by the way they still hand shave the scallop braces and install the abalone inlays by hand.

Can't a CNC perform those jobs as well? It seems quite time consuming and ineffiicent to me for a factory assembly line. Can't imagine they have to had shave scallop braces for over 50,000 per year.

Tom F:

The LJ Martin you played, and enjoyed, is the same as the OM I played, and enjoyed. That is, we experienced guitars, products, made on the assembly line, the impersonal, mechanical, factory floor that still worked as a guitar, that still connected with us, us who have played hand made, personally created, designed, attended to, and cared for instruments. A guitar that works, works! Regardless of who made it and how they made it. I know of players/collectors who've spent years and many dollars playing, commissioning, and owning the most exotic hand made solo builder guitars, and they now are returning to the small shops for a level of "consistancy" that find lacking in the exotic guitars. So, good guitars are everywhere, and there's something for everyone.

Marccd, very well said, and I could not agree with you more. Great guitars, from whatever company, should be celebrated, and we are indeed in a "Golden Era" . BTW, I've got "Guitarist" by Laurence Juber turned up on the stereo; LJ's playing is simply mindboggling. Now, if I could just get my hands on a Sobell OM......

One of the things that really struck me as odd was that the one step that seems to be absolutely 100% manual at Collings is automated at Martin. I'd really like to see that buffing robot at work!

Tom F:

LJ is always on my CD turntable. Wonderful player, melodic, percussive, inventive, traditional, he can do it all.

IMO Martin has improved their focus on quality sound with their Custom Shop, GE, and Marquis models. IMO these instruments have to be seeing a more hands on approah than their assembly line counterparts. I have owned 1 D18GE and a very nice D18CW that were very light,well built,great sounding guitars. I also own a rosewood/adi top HD28 that says only Custom on the neck block. It is a forward X design and the scalloping you see with a mirror is very well done. This too is a very light guitar with a killer rosewood tone. Maybe someone who has done a Martin Tour can let us know if they were able to see these models being assembled.

Nice tour!