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Life of famous guitar maker revealed for the first time in professor’s book

By JENA WITTKAMP
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- For years, an unorganized collection of business journals and letters dating back to the 1830s lay neglected and covered in dust in C.F. Martin & Co.’s attic. It took the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Dr. Philip Gura to recognize the wealth of undiscovered information the famous guitar company’s records contained about 19^th-century American business and music.

Gura, William S. Newman Distinguished professor of American literature and culture, researched the collection for his new book, "C.F. Martin and His Guitars, 1796-1873" (UNC Press). The book is the first to chronicle the life of Christian Frederick Martin, the famous maker of American guitars.

"It’s important not only for music history but for American economic history," Gura said.

While Gura was doing research for another book, he saw a picture of C.F. Martin & Co.’s collection of historical records and decided to visit the company, located in Nazareth, Pa. Gura discovered that the business journals and letters stored in wooden crates contained unresearched information about C.F. Martin and the music industry in 19^th-century America. He was intrigued by the letters between Martin and his customers that revealed the personal relationships they had.

It is unusual for a company to keep records dating so far back, Gura said. The only reason the records still exist is probably because the company has never left the Martin family’s ownership, he said.

The company gave Gura permission to deposit the materials temporarily in the Southern Historical Collection in UNC’s Wilson Library.

"We were thrilled that someone was interested enough to delve into it," said Dick Boak, director of artist and public relations at C.F. Martin & Co. Boak said the company was already familiar with Gura because of his earlier book on banjos and more than happy to allow him to research their materials.

"It was just piecemeal," said Gura, who worked for almost a year to organize the collection. He wrote descriptions of the information contained in each journal and returned the collection to the company fully catalogued and protected from aging.

"He’s done a tremendous service to the Martin Guitar Company through the incredible research he’s done," Boak said. Boak estimated that the collection had gone untouched for at least 100 years before Gura became interested.

Gura was surprised to learn "how much C.F. Martin was a person concerned with business." Martin named guitars after famous musicians and varied his line to create guitars for all different types of customers, Gura said. He refused to allow his name to be used on instruments not created in his factory under his supervision. Gura said it was really Martin’s business skills, not groundbreaking innovations in guitar making, that made his company so successful.

Born in Markneukirchen, Germany, Martin learned the craft of guitar making as an apprentice under Johann Stauffer, a renowned Viennese guitar maker. Martin immigrated to New York City in 1833 and first worked as a music wholesaler, making guitars but also selling other instruments and musical supplies.

In 1839, Martin moved to Nazareth where he devoted himself fully to guitar making. By the time of his death in 1873, C.F. Martin & Co. had expanded to employ more than a dozen craftsmen and occupied a factory in Nazareth. Martin’s son took over the business, and C.F. Martin IV runs it today.

Gura owns a large collection of banjos, but felt he needed at least one guitar made by Martin.

"I wanted to have one example of his work to inspire me," Gura said. His guitar was made in the 1850s and 1860s.

"C.F. Martin and His Guitars, 1796-1873" is a biography in a narrative style, telling the story of Martin’s life and the path of his company until his death. Gura said the book is not just for music lovers and guitar enthusiasts, but also for readers interested in 19^th-century American popular culture and business.

"They’ll get the life story of a person about whom they’ve heard, but about whom we have known nothing," Gura said.

Said Boak, "We love the book. What he’s done is he’s dissected the lifetime of C.F. Martin in a level of detail that we could have only dreamed of."

Gura also wrote "The Crossroads of American History and Literature" (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996) and co-wrote, with James F. Bollman, "America’s Instrument: The Banjo in the 19^th Century" (UNC Press, 1999). He’s written three other books, edited three and co-edited one.

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Photo url: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/gura_phillip.jpg

(Wittkamp, of Raleigh, is a senior majoring in women’s studies and journalism and mass communication.)

Contact: Philip Gura, 962-4033, gura@email.unc.edu
News Services Contact: print- L.J. Toler, 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu, broadcast- Karen Moon, 962-8595, karen_moon@unc.edu