I disagree. Prior to 1923 Martins were designed for gut strings and thus were not braced as heavily as latter models. By 1928 all were made for steel unless they had a C or G prefix. You can play light stells on the older and they will work find and sound far superior to anything made today. Best years---1929-1933...before they started "overbuilding" the tops to withstand heavy strings.

Chris Martin