Martin 000-21 w/ 14 frets 1938

by Pam Goddard
(Cordova, TN)

Only one owner, received this guitar in 1938 for Christmas. Original case. This man owned Pinwheel Studios on Music Row. He was a photographer and an artist who drew the artwork for Waylon Jennings/Willie Nelson albums. Did photo work for all the big country star's albums for over 25 years.

Serial number 71728 found on neck block inside round hole.

Bottom side of body has a long crack.

Can supply more pictures as needed.
Ultimately need to sell the guitar for owner's widow and handicapped child - do you have any suggestions? They live in Nashville, TN.

ANSWER

Hi, Pam--

Here is the Blue Book General information--

000-21
- Grand Auditorium body style, solid spruce top, Brazilian rosewood (1902-1954, 1965) or Indian rosewood (1979) back and sides, round soundhole with three-stripe rosette (herringbone surrounded by two five ring groupings between 1902 and 1947, non-herringbone with 1/9/1 grouping after 1947), five-ply top binding, two-ply back binding with rosewood (1902-1932), black (1932-36, 1979), or tortoise (1936-1954, 1965) outer layer, herringbone back stripe (1902-1948), cedar (1902-1916) or mahogany (1916-1954, 1965, 1979) neck, 12/19-fret (1902-1934) or 14/20-fret (1934-1954, 1965, 1979) ebony (1902-1947) or rosewood (1947-1954, 1965, 1979) fingerboard with slotted diamond inlays (1902-1944) or pearl dot inlays (1944-1954, 1965, 1979), slotted headstock (1902-1934) or solid headstock (1934-1954, 1965, 1979), with rosewood overlay and raised gold foil logo, three-per-side brass tuners with ivory buttons (1902-1934) or regular tuners (1934-1954, 1965, 1979), ebony rectangular (1902-1929) or belly (1929-1954, 1965, 1979) bridge, black bridge pins with pearl dots, available in Natural finish, 24.9 in. scale, total production of 9,005 instruments, mfg. 1902-1954, 1965, 1979.

Here is the specific pricing for 1938:

1938-1944

Excellent $20,000 - 25,000
Average $12,000 - 15,000

The crack, of course, will considerably diminish the value--by how much is difficult to determine.

As far as selling it, you might try Craig's list or Ebay.

We have also just added a guitar classifieds section to this site: Guitar Classifieds


Best Wishes,
Lynne