Up for sale, a circa 1870s Martin 2-20 in excellent condition and in perfect working order, complete with a hardshell case. This early Martin was likely crafted in the years following the Civil War: it’s famously difficult to pinpoint exact years of production on pre-1898 Martin instruments, but features like fan bracing and the “C.F. Martin & Co. New York” body stamp indicate that this particular piece of history probably dates to the 1870s. This 2-20 has been freshly serviced by Portland Fretworks, benefitting from a professional neck reset and a new carved bone saddle and nut.

Tonewoods include a fan-braced Adirondack spruce top, stunning bookmatched Brazilian rosewood back and sides, a Spanish cedar neck, an ebony fingerboard, and the original maple bridge plate. The body depth of the 2-20 model is known to vary slightly throughout the years, and this instrument measures 3 1/2“ deep at the upper bout and just shy of 4” at the lower bout.

Open and expressive-sounding, and yielding exquisite balance and projection in-line with its bracing and body size, this Martin fills a room with a sonorous woody shimmer in the treble register, and potent, plucky wound strings. The instrument is also extremely balanced across all strings and in all registers for fingerstyle playing. This 2-20 weighs 2lbs 11oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 10-46 silk and steel strings and easy-playing action.

Neck Specs:

-Wood: Spanish cedar
-Shape: V, measuring .890” 1st fret, .980” 12th fret
-Fretboard: Ebony, small rectangular fill forward of the nut
-Frets: Bar, no wear
-Scale Length: 24 1/2”
-Nut: 1 3/4”, bone (modern)
-Tuners: Open-gear strip
-Factory Markings: “C.F. Martin & Co. New York” stamp on back of peghead

Body Specs:

-Wood: Adirondack spruce, Brazilian rosewood (bookmatched)
-Bracing: Fan (single tone bar)
-Bridge Ebony, pyramid w/ bone saddle (modern), pins with abalone dots (modern), maple bridge plate
-Marquetry: Multi-color herringbone rosette and backstrip, multi-ply purfling
-Factory Markings: “C.F. Martin & Co. New York” stamp on inside of centerline

The French Polish finish is 100% original with no touch-up, and the guitar exhibits one very shallow split on top across the bass side of the soundhole, not fully through the spruce, with a couple additional much shorter repaired cracks on the bass-side lower bout edge. The Brazilian rosewood back and sides are crack-free, and cosmetic wear is limited to a small area of concentrated pickwear on the treble side of the soundhole, light buckle wear central to the waist on the back, and various minor nicks and scuffs from the past 150 years.

On the neck, there is one very short repaired split on the profile carve extending from the nut behind the 1st fret and below the volute, as well as a couple marks central to the V behind frets 2 and 4, and a ding on the bass-side of the carve behind fret 7.

A modern black tolex hardshell case is included.