My most prized guitar is a Martin copy made by a luthier in Brooklyn, NY named Ivan Schmuckler(it's German for jeweler, by the way), back in '74. Rory BLock had one, so did Roy Bookbinder, Ken Perlman. It is a copy of those archtop conversion jobs that David Bromberg was playing at the time. Wider than a Dreadnought across the lower bout, but a slightly shallower body, with a slight arch to the back. Martin wasn't making OOOO's at the time(or M's, as they called them for a while), and they turn out to be my favorite size and shape, a deep ringing bass with a clear balanced treble that the D-size lacks, great for flatpicking for bluegrass or old-timey music, fingerpicking, or those full jazz chords. Mine is mahogany back sides, spruce top and ebony bridge and fingerboard. Only cost me $400 back then(he would 've charged anybody else six, but I worked at the New York Folklore Center at the time and he figured that every guitar picker in the country would get to see it. I've never played another axe that felt quite as good(except maybe Utah Phillips' big Guild).

Mark Ross