Thanks, M.Ted, I will notify Martin. Excellent suggestion.

The case had a little brass "C.F. Martin" plaque near the handle, but otherwise looked like a garden-variety black hardshell case.

Odd info from the music store: seems the person who brought the guitar in is a musician who is known to Clayton, the music store guy. He used to come into the store to buy strings and such, and Clayton got the impression he took good care of his instruments. But now it seems he sees him occasionally on the street and, as he puts it, "Seems like he must have lost his job...or his mind." The thing is, he brought the guitar in without the case, but with the strap attached, and he wanted, not to sell it, but to trade it for a nylon string guitar! Puzzling.

A pawn shop owner I talked with, who's an ex-cop, said that in Honolulu the pawn shop owners are required to turn in all their pawn tickets to the police once a week so they can be checked against the stolen goods reports. If one matches, they can arrest the person (they take name, address, and thumbprint when they lend on something). The bad news about this, he says, is that most experienced thieves don't try to fence stuff at pawnshops because they know there's a good chance they'll get caught. The things you don't know...

I agree completely, LH. It's an interesting balance, accepting that it's gone and still visualizing its return. I'm sure not turning down any prayers!

Aloha,
Mark

PS, the old 00 Martin had been coated with dark brown lacquer from head to toe, and sounded like it was being played under a blanket...so my friend is graciously lending me his Takamine for tonight's David Doucet workshop.