C. F. Martin & Co / 000-18 / 1953 / Natural / Guitar For Sale
One of the so called 'mystery top' Martins from one of the most sought after years, 1953. Plays effortlessly and sounds killer.
This '53 Martin 000-18 has been one of 20th Century Toys founder Phil Bourne's personal guitars for over 20 years.
It’s all original with no repairs and no neck reset, which is quite a common mod. The action is very good and along with the, typical for the period, soft V neck profile makes for quite an effortless acoustic to play.
The overall condition is excellent for a guitar of this vintage. It has been played, but well looked after. There is some natural play wear to the back of the neck and a small amount of wear around the armrest area to be expected. There are a few small scratches and nicks here and there but overall this is a very clean example of a vintage Martin.
It’s one of the so called ‘mystery top’ ‘53 Martins. A large number of ‘53’s had either Adirondack spruce or European spruce tops as opposed to the usual Sitka spruce. This one appears to be Adirondack and sounds great. It has a tight but sweet focused tone with loads of upper mid clarity and projects really well. It’s a great recording acoustic which naturally sits well in the mix without any EQ tweaking.
1953 is one of the sought after years amongst Martin collectors for the above reasons.
Comes in an early 70's Martin hard shell case.
**Please ask about shipping outside the UK**
20th Century Toys, UK 
UK based vintage and vintage reissue dealer. We hand select original vintage guitars and limited edition reissues.
