Great Acoustics: Joan Baez’s Circa 1880 Martin Style 0-40
Aside from the association with Baez, the 0-40 is a remarkable instrument in its own right. Martin only made a dozen or so examples of this deluxe parlor-sized guitar, with its Brazilian rosewood back and sides, bound ebony fretboard, abalone purfling and rosette, and brass (or sometimes German silver) engraved tuners with bone buttons.
In 1966, Joan Baez, then 25 and already an internationally renowned singer and activist, encountered an old Martin that really spoke to her. Joan Saxe, a student at the University of California, Berkeley, had just acquired a circa 1880 Style 0-40, and when Saxe met Baez that year, she handed Baez the guitar and asked if she could help troubleshoot some string rattling. Baez played the instrument and, apparently mesmerized by its dulcet tone, offered to trade Saxe not one but two guitars for the 0-40, promising to reverse the swap if it proved unsatisfactory.
For the next couple of years, Baez performed and recorded extensively with the 0-40—it’s heard on her 1967 album, Joan, and seen on the Japanese pressing of David’s Album. But in 1968, Saxe asked Baez to undo the trade, as the old Martin had been a gift from her grandmother. Saxe continued to enjoy the 0-40 for many years, and put it up for auction with Freeman’s when she could no longer play it, not long before her 2016 death. The auction generated much excitement among collectors, but C.F. Martin & Co. scored the winning bid, for $12,500. Since late 2015, the 0-40 has resided in the Martin Guitar Museum, at the company’s Nazareth, Pennsylvania, headquarters.
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Aside from the association with Baez, the 0-40 is a remarkable instrument in its own right. Martin only made a dozen or so examples of this deluxe parlor-sized guitar, with its Brazilian rosewood back and sides, bound ebony fretboard, abalone purfling and rosette, and brass (or sometimes German silver) engraved tuners with bone buttons. While this 0-40 is in mostly original condition, save for work on the bridge plate, the instrument’s extensive finish wear—not to mention Baez’s handwritten set list, still taped to the upper bass bout—speaks to its storied provenance.
I had a single-aught Martin made in the 50’s, which I bought new at the time. All my friends who were better musicians than I complained over the years about its dead, boring tone. I finally traded it for a new triple-aught a few years ago, which I recently gave up for a 60 year old Japanese guitar with surprisingly good tone, as I want to play nylon strings with these old hands and fingers. One of these days I hope to find a neat parlour guitar with nylon strings.
Hi William–A year or two ago I bought a 1923 Martin 042 at auction. It had been strung with heavy bronze strings and as a result the neck was like a banana – totally unplayable but in reasonably good original condition. Someone had done a very bad neck reset and the intonation was way out. So I did another reset which was a nightmare as they’d used awful glue.The only way to correct the neck was to remove the fingerboard and fit a fibre glass rod. I fitted silk n steel and was so disappointed with the tone ! So, since it was originally intended to be strung with gut, I fitted Nylgut strings and the result was a wonderful tone and so easy to play since I’d incorporated a low action with the neck reset. Find yourself a pre 1929 0 size rosewood Martin and get it well set up with Nylgut and you’ll be set for life–!