Martin and Joe Bonamassa have teamed up to bring you a limited edition replica of one of the most-stunning pre-War acoustic guitars from Nerdville, a 000-45 based on the blues guitar superstar’s 1941 original.
This limited run (they’re only making 45 of ‘em) is Martin’s Nazareth, Pennsylvania factory showing off, applying all of their know-how to bring the 21st-century guitarist an instrument that looks and feels “just as it came off the workbench” some 80 years ago, right down to the abalone “Style 45” snowflake inlays on its ebony fingerboard.
Bonamassa has had tons of signature guitars. But this is the first limited edition acoustic guitar to bear his name, and in effect it is a limited run of a guitar that was never made in great numbers. Martin says it only made 265.
The story behind Bonamassa’s original acoustic takes us back through three generations of one Southern Californian family, where this 000-45 had been kept for decades. It proved a sound investment; the sale of it saved a woman’s house.
“I don’t collect guitars, I collect stories,” says Bonamassa. “I don’t collect instruments because I want a deal on them. I want to collect instruments because I want to help a family out of financial trouble, and they have this one item that could be sold for lots of money... It was the last thing of value that she had, so it saved her house, and I got a wonderful guitar and a hell of a story.”
Anyone who can pony up the $19,999 asking price for this will get a heck of a guitar that will be worth holding onto, not least because it will surely appreciate in value. All the specs are top-shelf, with Guatemalan rosewood on the back and sides, Adirondack spruce on the top, braced with X-pattern scalloped spruce.
In keeping with the time machine vibe, Martin has applied its VTS (Vintage Tone System) to age this wood, giving it that extra warm, resonance and detail that you get from a premium vintage acoustic.
The guitar has been judiciously decorated with abalone. You’ll find it on the fingerboard, headstock, top inlays and the rosette. Even the bridge pins have a little shell sparkle to them.
As for the vital statistics, we have a 24.9” scale, a mahogany neck that has been matched to Bonamassa’s original. When Bonamassa turned it over to Martin’s luthier’s, in mint condition, the 000-45 still had its original ticket on it.
In 1941, it cost $225. And yet it is a guitar that most players will never have the good fortune to play. Hence why Bonamassa and Martin are producing this run. This is not the sort of super high-end acoustic guitar you can mass produce, but Bonamassa promises an exact replica for the lucky 45 who get their hands on one.
“It's really important to me that the new guitar stayed true to the old one, because there's no other reason to do it,” he says. “It gives people an opportunity to feel what it's like to hold a Golden Era 000-45... I'm not redesigning a Martin guitar. I'm just sharing 45 times over a glimpse into a guitar that I own, that most people will never get to play, or see.”
There is one modern update to the 000-45. But purists, relax. It’s an adjustable truss rod. Who could complain about that? You will find JoBo's signature on the soundhole label, and there is a certificate of authenticity, a vintage hang tag, and a period-correct hardshell guitar case to keep this guitar mint.
Martin's Joe Bonamassa signature model comes hot on the heels of a pair of Johnny Marr acoustics, the M7 and M6, the former equipped with seven strings, with an octave G to give you some of the indie guitar icon's trademark jangle
The 000-45 Joe Bonamassa is out now. See Martin for more details.
