The 00-42 Linda Ronstadt Signature Edition 2008

Adirondack Red Spruce Top, Madagascar Back & Sides

Excellent Condition

C.F.Martin Honours a Trailblazer with Enhanced 00 12-fret Model

Linda Ronstadt. Her voice captured our imagination more than 40 years ago and continues to enthrall.

Equally fascinating is her willingness to take chances and show the way for others.She was one of the first women to become a rockstar,among the first artists to showcase a new generation of songwriters, the first singer of the modern era to succeed in tackling American standard songs and first major American artist to record an album entirely in Spanish.She has won 11 Grammy Awards and an Emmy Award,put 21 singles on the “Top40” charts(including 10 in the“Top10”) and sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.

With Ronstadt’s singular voice,it is only natural that she has – for the most part – left the guitar playing to others throughout her musical career. But play she does. She is a fine accompanist. Some of her earliest singing was accompanied by her father playing guitar and she owns an old Martin 1-21 that was originally purchased by her grandfather in 1896. She was floored when good friend David Bromberg showed her his Martin M-42 David Bromberg Signature Edition and that guitar encounter got the ball rolling on a namesake Linda Ronstadt guitar.

Her dream guitar has always been a 12-fret Martin 00 with an ample portion of abalone. Combining taste, elegance, integrity and tone, Martin is excited to introduce the 00-42 Linda Ronstadt Limited Edition.

Limited to just 150 instruments, the 00-42 Linda Ronstadt Limited Edition guitar closely approximates an original Martin 00-42 from the turn of the previous century, with the elongated body, wide (1 13/16” at the nut) neck and slotted headstock of the graceful 12-fret design providing extraordinarily rich, balanced tone. Back and sides of Madagascar rosewood showcase deep, dark color and full, powerful timbre nearly identical to the now-endangered Brazilian rosewood, while the Adirondack spruce top paired with1/4” width scalloped Adirondack spruce braces contributes superb clarity and dynamic range.Themodified V neck with diamond volute is carved from genuine mahogany.

The lavish appointments are pure Style 42: select abalone pearl encircling the rosette and the top, all accented by fine black/white purfling;multi-colored mosaic back strip; “C.F. Martin” in block letters inlaid on the polished Madagascar rosewood headplate in abalone pearl and black ebony fingerboard inlaid with Style 45 abalone pearl snowflake position markers. The body, headstock and neck are bound in grained ivoroid,with the latter two additionally detailed with fine black/white inlays.

The black ebony pyramid bridge is fitted with abalone pearl-inlaid white bridge pins; the white end pin is likewise topped with abalone pearl.Elegant Waverly™ tuners with engraved polished bronze side plates and grained ivoroid knobs provide precision tuning. Aging toner on the top and Martin’s flawless polished gloss finish throughout highlight the abalone pearl appointments in spectacular style.

Only one element of this spectacular guitar steps away from its vintage inspiration: Linda Ronstadt’s bold signature, reproduced in mother of pearl between the18th and19th frets.

Bold may be the word that describes Linda Ronstadt best, as it informs so many aspects of her career. A Tucson native of Mexican, English, German and Dutch ancestry, she first began performing around her hometown as a teenager with her brother and sister. After a semester at the University of Arizona, she moved to Los Angeles and soon joined the Stone Poneys, a folk trio. The group recorded three albums before disbanding, but Different Drum, a song written by Michael Nesmith of the Monkees and recorded with studio musicians, became a “Top 20”hit.

She struggled as a solo artist for the next five years, though one song, Long, Long Time, landed on the “Top 40.“ Only with the release of the album “Don’t Cry Now” did Ronstadt begin garnering serious attention, with the single Love Has No Pride showing thevway. The release of “Heart Like AvWheel” in 1974 made her a star; You’re No Good topped the charts, When Will I Be Loved reached No. 2 and I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You hit No.2 on the country charts and won Ronstadt her first Grammy Award.

Three top-selling albums followed: “Simple Dreams,” “Living in the U.S.A.,” and“Mad Love,” each of which yielded hit singles. Along the way, Ronstadt drew material from a coterie of young songwriters, including Warren Zevon,Karla Bonoff,J.D. Souther and Wendy Waldman. She also became a major concert attraction. By the end of the1970s, she reigned as the most successful female vocalist in the world.

Instead of playing it safe, Ronstadt moved on to new challenges. She took the role of Mabel in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony Award. In 1983 she teamed with arranger Nelson Riddle to revisit the great American songbook, the first mainstream artist to do so in many years; the resulting album,“What’sNew,”became a major hit and the two that followed –“Lush Life” and “For Sentimental Reasons” –also did very well.

In 1987, after collaborating with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris to make the best-selling “Trio” album, Ronstadt tackled a project close to her heart and her family tradition, an album of Mexican folk songs, recorded entirely in Spanish. “Canciones de Mi Padre” (“My Father’s Songs”) became the largest selling Spanish album by an American artist of its era and a Broadway stage show featuring Ronstadt performing songs from the album, filmed and broadcast by PBS, earned her an Emmy Award. She followed it with a second album, “MasCanciones,” which received a Grammy Award. In 1987,she also joined forces with James Ingram torecord Somewhere Out There for the movie An American Tale.

In 1989, she returned to her rock and pop roots with “Cry Like a Rainstorm,Howl Like the Wind;” the duet Don’t Know Much with Aaron Neville reached No.2 on the charts and earned both artists two Grammy Awards. In the 1990s she tackled a range of recording projects, from the lullaby record of “Dedicated to the One I Love” and the rock of “We Ran” to the folk-country of “Trio II” with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris and the folk-rock of “Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions” with Harris alone.

Ronstadt,now a mother of two,has devoted much of the new millennium to home rather than career.She tackled jazz in“Hummin’ to Myself” in 2004 and two years later teamed with friend Ann Savoy for “Adieu False Heart,” an album that encompasses pop, Cajun, old-time and blues. In late 2008 she embarked on a brief concert tour with Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano that featured songs in Spanish. In August 2008, she was honored by the American Latino MediaArts(ALMA)Awards with theTrailblazer Award for her contributions to American music.

Delivered in a Geib™ -style hardshell case, each Martin 00-42 Linda Ronstadt Limited Edition guitar bears an interior label personally signed by Linda Ronstadt and numbered in sequence with the edition total.