Martin Shenandoah guitars
The 1980's were a trying time for many American musical
instrument manufacturers, with some of the greatest challenges being laid at the door of the venerable C.F. Martin
& Company. The musical styles of the day heavily favored synthesizers
and other electronic keyboards over the fine acoustic guitars that were Martin's specialty and the inescapable costs
of highly skilled American craftsmanship, plus steadily rising prices for raw materials, were certainly not helping matters.
In perhaps the most worrying development of all, Japanese
manufacturers had spent the previous decade steadily consolidating their hold on the worldwide market for mid-level
guitars and were now showing clear signs of interest in competing head-to-head with US makers for a share of the high-end
market. There was once a time when "Made in Japan" meant cheap in both senses of the word, but those days were long past
and the 1970's had shown the world that Japanese craftsmanship could no longer be casually dismissed. Japanese instrument
makers like Yamaha and Ibanez had proven beyond any reasonable doubt that they were fully capable of delivering
high quality combined with a labor cost that American manufacturers simply couldn't match.
With these dark clouds looming on the horizon, the management of C.F.
Martin & Company decided to take a carefully measured step outside of its comfort zone, in the interests of it own long-term
survival.
For well over a century after Christian Fredrick Martin left his native
Europe and started building fine fretted instruments in the New World, every single instrument that bore his name
had been built entirely in the United States of America. Now, almost exactly 150 years after its founding, the company embarked
on its first (and to date, only) tentative experiment in overseas production of guitars bearing the time-honored C.F.
Martin logo. Initial construction of bodies and necks would take place in Japan, with the partially completed components
then shipped to the Martin factory in Nazareth PA for final assembly and finishing.
It was a controversial move, both within the company and among players
and collectors of Martin instruments. As a compromise with both company tradition and the sensibilities of its loyal customers,
the new line of guitars would be set apart from the "All American" Martins by a subtle change in the time-honored logo
on the peghead. The C.F. Martin & Co. script would stay exactly the same, but underneath, the familiar "1833" would be
replaced with a new name:
Shenandoah
