C. F. Martin & Company

And, and I got to kind of tackle some of those various, uh, gigs this time.

I think we really kind of focused in on the human element of Martin guitars.

And we'll talk about Taylor as well.

We did the same thing, I guess, uh, on that side.

I think that was a cool aspect of getting to see it this time through was a more human element of talking to the people and the various different aspects of their job at Martin.

Even on the big guys, like Fred Green was fun to kind of go into the in-depth of who you are.

Why is it you're imparting part of you into Martin Guitars? And what is that part of you, right? Yeah.

We did do

[laughs] I disagree.

You know, it's like I told you, uh, I had to have you on the Gear Gab Podcast because everybody I was bumping into over the past few months, we were, like, going, "Man, we miss, we miss Dick Boak," you know? And, like, uh, so many of the artists you've worked with, which we'll get into on the, uh, on the signature models was where, you know, a lot of these signature models with Martin Guitars would not have happened, you know, without you.

But I wanna start out, uh, first off, you know, it's like when we had you on the TV show and, uh, which I always enjoyed every time, uh, you came into Nashville to have you on the Rock Interview and talk about your books and, and the new Martins you were working on and, and your autoharp albums and everything else.

But, you know, growing up, I mean, you were obviously a, a, a musician and also a luthier, and I want you to tell the story about how, you know, when you were building and everything, Dick, that you started out by scavenging wood from Martin Guitars.

[chuckles]

Well, even before that, you know, remember the hobby shops, the, the little shops? So I used to go to the hobby shops and, um, they ha- they would have the balsa wood in different thicknesses.

I was an art teacher and, and part of my art teaching was also teaching woodworking and ceramics.

Yeah.

CBS announced JJ Watt, who took over when Romo was placed on leave, will continue to serve as the network's lead NFL analyst.

All right, what do Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, James Taylor, and John Mayer all have in common? They've all strummed the strings of an American classic, the Martin guitar.

Since 1833, Martin has been making instruments for stars and students alike.

And while, of course, it's proud of its music legends who use the guitars, it's just as proud of the craftsmen who make them in Pennsylvania.

So naturally, we wanted to pay a visit for our series, American Made, which celebrates classic American companies that embody the classic American spirit.

News Nation's Jessica Cartaglia made the trip to see how the Martin guitar is still striking the right chord after nearly 200 years.

a company born from an immigrant's search for freedom.

C.F. Martin and Company has been building guitars in the small borough of Nazareth, Pennsylvania since 1833.

among like a bunch of other stuff and i was wanting to know like well which one which one do you use how do you decide when you use which one and they'll say guidelines generally like oh well the gibson's good for like the rock stuff and the martin's good for like the bluegrass stuff But like, I would go to stores and listen and it's like, but they all sound kind of different from each other.

But one thing that I have that I kind of think is a thing, as long as the strings are the same, as long as the strings are like new, then I think that the Martins have a bit more like 1k, 2k kind of mid range.

And I think the Gibsons have less of that and maybe a little bit less treble, and so they're a bit more dead.

I don't know what it is, if it's the tops or something, but whenever I've gone to Carter or Groon or something and I've played either a really nice high-end new Martin or a vintage Martin that has good strings on it, it's pretty alive.

Go ahead, John.

Chris, how far are you from the Martin Guitar Factory? A couple miles.

That's amazing.

The greatest guitars in the world.

Jason's going to show up in an eyepatch like Snake Plissken.

Go ahead, John.

Chris, how far are you from the Martin Guitar Factory? A couple miles.

That's amazing.