The Single-O or Concert Sized guitar was a staple of the Martin line from the beginning of recorded serial numbers (that was 1898) and actually from long before then, back in the 19th century. In the year 1951 Martin made 575 of them. By comparison, in that same year they made 476 D-28 guitars. Players loved the small but oh-so-impressive 0-18. Although some might envision this as a smaller body size – but at 13 ½” in width at the lower bout it is considered a full-sized instrument. In fact, in the 1880s, when most people bought parlor sized guitars, it would have been considered a large instrument. It certainly sounds large.
This is a dedicated steel string guitar, having a nut width of 1 11/16th”, and 12th fret fingerboard width of 2 1/16th” and a bridge string spacing of 2 3/16th”. Its body measures 4 3/16th” in depth at the bottom side. Yes, it does show normal signs of use, wear and ardent practicing and performance, but it is a healthy old thing and one that you may wish to cleave to your breast in the classical pose of the full-figured torso in a Renaissance sculpture.
We are happy to report that this guitar shows less than normal signs of use and wear – it’s a clean old thing. However, when it came in, it did have the same symptoms of time and torque that around 90% of all older American guitars have: it required a neck reset and refret. In equally predictable fashion it had a small pickguard crack at the treble side of the pickguard, and our team of professional repairers will have glued that.
The sound quality of this mahogany and spruce smallish six-string is simply stupendous! It sings with a voice of great aural intensity. The lows are thunderous and the highs are scintillating. When the neck reset is completed (it’s still happening) it will be one of the easiest playing mid-‘50s Martin 0-18 guitars as has passed our portal in this post-millennium period.
This instrument now has a $100 "Right of First Refusal" (ROFR) deposit on it and will not become available unless the person who has it "on hold" passes.