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Martin Announces Steve Miller, Jimmy Buffett & Del McCoury SIgnature Acoustics

Martin Guitar has announced three new signature models to be introduced at NAMM: the D-18 Del McCoury 50th Anniversary Custom Edition, 000C-MR Steve Miller Custom Artist Edition and LX Jimmy Buffett.

Anaheim, CA (January 13, 2010) -- Martin Guitar has announced three new signature models to be introduced at NAMM: the D-18 Del McCoury 50th Anniversary Custom Edition, 000C-MR Steve Miller Custom Artist Edition and LX Jimmy Buffett.

D-18 Del McCoury 50th Anniversary Custom Edition
It is hard to believe Del McCoury just celebrated 50 years of playing bluegrass. The legend of traditional bluegrass with his Del McCoury Band continues to record and tour almost nonstop, and remains both one of its most popular artists and one whose music transcends the genre.


McCoury was already bluegrass royalty in 2002 when C.F. Martin created the D-28 Del McCoury Limited Edition guitar of which a respectable 115 instruments were sold in his honor, achieving a new level of success with music both timeless and groundbreaking.

True to its inspiration, the Martin D-18 Del McCoury 50th Anniversary Custom Edition features exceptional premium tonewoods. The Adirondack spruce top and scalloped braces are crafted with early ‘40s era placement, to produce a powerful, balanced tone. Back and sides are genuine mahogany, which imparts midrange “punch” and clarity. The genuine mahogany neck features a rounded, full thickness “V” profile and 1930s style heel.

The body appointments are pure, traditional Style 18: classic Old Style 18 rosette, Style 18 five-element black/white fine line top purfling, Delmar tortoise-brown top, side and back binding, Delmar tortoise-brown end piece, Style 18 back strip, and classic beveled and polished Delmar tortoise color pickguard. Only time can produce the rich patina of the top on Del’s ‘47, but aging toner gives the D-18 Del McCoury 50th Anniversary Custom Edition a good start in that direction. The neck’s polished headplate is Madagascar rosewood and the Golden Era C.F. Martin decal and nickel Waverly™ tuners with oval buttons closely replicate the vintage original. The unbound black ebony fingerboard features Old Style 18 abalone pearl position markers and is matched by the black ebony heelcap. The belly bridge likewise is black ebony. Both the vintage-style angled nut and compensated saddle are crafted from genuine bone. Ebony bridge pins and end pin are topped with abalone pearl dot inlays.

To approximate the color of the classic 1940s D-18, the mahogany on the D-18 Del McCoury Custom Edition is stained dark prior to finishing. Martin’s flawless polished gloss lacquer finish completes this instrument’s classic look. Delivered in a Geib style hardshell case, each Martin D-18 Del McCoury 50th Anniversary Custom Edition guitar features two interior labels; a Del McCoury 50th Anniversary label and a Custom Edition label personally signed by Del McCoury and numbered in sequence with the edition total. In honor of his 50 years in music, only 50 of the D-18 Del McCoury 50th Anniversary Custom Edition will be produced. Authorized C.F. Martin dealers will take orders (including orders for left-handed instruments at no additional charge) for the D-18 Del McCoury 50th Anniversary Custom Edition until the edition is fully subscribed.

000C-MR Steve Miller Custom Artist Edition
Steve Miller has eclectic tastes. It shows in his music, which – in a career that has spanned more than four decades - has ranged from blues and psychedelic to pop and rock, and back. And it shows in his Martin guitars. The Martin 00-37KSM and 00-37K2SM Steve Miller Signature Editions from 2000 highlighted classic 12-fret style and distinctive – Engelmann spruce and flamed Koa – tonewoods. The Martin 000C Steve Miller Pegasus Signature Edition from 2005 paired a rounded cutaway with Engelmann spruce and quilted mahogany.


Now comes the Martin 000C-MR Steve Miller Custom Artist Edition. Again featuring a rounded cutaway, this guitar combines a warm and energetic sounding Adirondack spruce top with Pacific bigleaf maple back and sides for brilliantly clear tone and impressive dynamic range, but the appointment most will notice first is the color; highlighted by Martin’s polished lacquer finish, both the body and neck are a rich Burgundy red.

Why a red guitar? “I’ve always been bothered by the need to have blemish-free, ‘perfect’ looking spruce for guitar tops,” Miller commented. “It seems wasteful and I’ve found some of the less perfect-looking wood sounds better than perfect, fine-grained spruce. With that thought in mind I wanted to choose a color for this guitar that would mellow with age and become truly beautiful to look at and play, and that color is blood red.”

The 000C-MR Steve Miller Custom Artist Edition’s stylish appointments look spectacular against its deep red hue. A Style 45 rosette with a center ring of select abalone pearl is matched by a colorful Style 45 wood mosaic back strip. Intricate multi-layered black/white fine line purfling encircles the top and black/white/black fine line purfling accents the sides and back: all are protected by grained ivoroid binding.

The Modified Low Oval two-piece maple neck is topped by a polished ebony headplate that features the exquisite and rarely offered “alternative” torch inlay from 1902 that has been featured on every Steve Miller guitar, and nickel Gotoh open-back tuners. The fingerboard also is ebony and is absolutely plain – without position markers or a signature. Both headstock and fingerboard are bound in grained ivoroid, and elegantly accented by mitered black/white fine line inlays.

The ebony belly bridge is fitted with a compensated bone saddle. Pearl dot-topped black ebony bridge pins and end pin, a beveled and polished black pickguard, and a chrome strap button complete the 000C-MR Steve Miller Custom Artist Edition’s unique look.

Befitting a guitar with extraordinary stage charisma, the 000C-MR Steve Miller Custom Artist Edition is factory-equipped with Fishman Matrix Infinity electronics. Featuring an advanced, “next generation” undersaddle transducer, soundhole mounted controls and an internal endpin pre-amp, it produces impressive, lifelike “plugged-in” sound for both live performance and studio recording. Delivered in a heavy duty hardshell case, each Martin 000C-MR Steve Miller Custom Artist Edition guitar bears a special red interior label personally signed by Steve Miller and C.F Martin Director of Artist Relations Dick Boak, and numbered in sequence. Authorized C.F. Martin dealers will begin accepting orders for the open-ended 000C-MR Steve Miller Custom Artist Edition – including for left-handed instruments, which are available at no additional cost – immediately.

LX Jimmy Buffett
For Jimmy Buffett, life is a beach and everyone is invited to join in the fun. Based on the popularity of Buffett’s concerts, albums and books with legions of Parrot Heads – as his devoted fans are known – this beach party may never end.


Jimmy Buffett has played Martin guitars for decades – and it’s been some party. C.F. Martin & Co. has acknowledged his loyalty twice: in 1998 with the Martin HD-18JB Jimmy Buffett Signature Edition, a classic stage/studio guitar offered in an edition of 424 that sold out immediately, and in 2003 with the Martin 000-JBS Jimmy Buffett Shellback and 000-JBP Jimmy Buffett Pollywog Signature Editions, “off-shore” (as in sailboat-ready) guitars that totaled 168 and 305, respectively.

As Buffett recently pointed out, the one namesake guitar Martin hadn’t yet built for him was a “beach” guitar; a small, sturdy guitar to play at beach with friends and one that would bring that fun, carefree “beach” spirit wherever it went. So under Jimmy’s guidance – Martin Guitar is pleased to introduce the LX Jimmy Buffett.

The Martin LX Jimmy Buffett guitar features the same “go everywhere” design and materials as the popular and fine sounding LXM “Little Martin;” a modified 0 14-fret shape and short 23-inch scale, with an HPL body matched to Sitka spruce top bracing, a modified low oval Stratabond neck, tropical hardwood fingerboard and Micarta belly bridge. The LX Jimmy Buffett is fitted with chrome tuners, a Corian nut and a compensated Tusq saddle.

It truly is the eye-catching appointments that give the Martin LX Jimmy Buffett beach credentials. Koa Wood-pattern back and sides are reminiscent of Martin’s early Hawaiian guitars and ukuleles. With graphic artwork created by artist/designer and Jimmy Buffett’s friend Dan Rizzie, the top’s handsome dark brown-to-light bronze sunburst silhouettes a tropical island waterfront scene of palm trees, gentle swells, a moored sailboat and a seaplane heading home at sunset. On the headstock, the black headplate highlights the familiar “C.F. Martin” logo, the windswept palm logo (similarly used on the two Jimmy Buffett Signature Edition guitars) and a reproduction of Jimmy Buffett’s signature.

Delivered in a fitted gig bag, each Martin LX Jimmy Buffett guitar bears an interior label with Jimmy Buffett’s facsimile signature. A left-handed version of the LX Jimmy Buffett is available at no additional charge. The LX Jimmy Buffett is an open-ended edition and will be available from authorized C.F. Martin dealers early in 2010.

For more information:
C.F. Martin & Co.