C.F. Martin & Company is an American guitar manufacturer established in 1833 by Christian Frederick Martin. It is highly respected for its acoustic guitars and is a leading manufacturer of flat top guitars. The company has also made mandolins and tiples, as well as several models of electric guitars and electric basses, although none of these other instruments are still in production.
C.F. Martin portrait on the 175th anniversary model
Vienna era: Johann Georg Stauffer Terz Guitar (c. 1820–30), and Vienna Stauffer- style guitar by C.F. Martin (1834–35)
New York era: Stauffer-style guitar (c. 1834), made in New York
Nazareth era: Spanish-style guitar (c. 1845), and Style 3-17 (c. 1859)
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, resonating through the air in the body, and producing sound from the sound hole. While the original, general term for this stringed instrument is guitar, the retronym 'acoustic guitar' – often used to indicate the steel stringed model – distinguishes it from an electric guitar, which relies on electronic amplification. Typically, a guitar's body is a sound box, of which the top side serves as a sound board that enhances the vibration sounds of the strings. In standard tuning the guitar's six strings are tuned (low to high) E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4.
Image: Classical Guitar
Image: Martin HD28
A reconstruction of a medieval gittern, the first guitar-like instrument
Basic anatomy of a classical guitar