Martin Guitar Registration

Subject: Martin
From: olddude
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 09:01 PM

So my old Martin needs some TLC ... I called the company, came to find out that it was never registered ... all of these years and they never got my registration - and I know I sent it for sure. I bought it at the time they gave the lifetime warranty ..   soooo I was more than ticked off. I said I will give you a sworn noterized statement that I am the original owner ... nope didn't take that. They wanted the original receipt.. yea right after 40+ years. Then they told me well if you had an old picture of yourself with the guitar in full view ... maybe. Well I found one .. sent it in .. and they registered it ..

so why am I writing this. If you think your guitar is registered you better check ... all of these 40+ years I never checked until I needed it and was surprised that is wasn't it was a pain to resolve ... but at least it was resolved! If you own one with the original warranty (lifetime) call and find out it is in the system ... if not find an old picture of yourself with it ... for some reason that boggles my mind that is acceptable but a sworn statement is not

Dan

Subject: RE: Martin
From: Amos
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 09:09 PM

Old photos can't alter their own memories, Dan. What's wonderful about it is that Martin was willing to accept the photo.

A

Subject: Old Martins and C F Martin's lifetime warranty
From: Genie
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 09:14 PM

Glad to hear your story, Dan.

The good news about my old Martin is that it was given to me as a gift (from the previous owner).

The bad news is that, since I am not the original owner, I wouldn't be able to avail myself of Martin's lifetime warranty even if I did have the original bill of sale.

Subject: RE: Martin
From: olddude
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 09:33 PM

And I did appreciate that Martin accepted the photo, they didn't have to do that but they did and that was very nice of them. Just wanted to let people know they should check on their registration just in case you need it sometime. It is sad if you find out that it is not registered. It was nice of them to accept the photo but they no longer take sworn statements so you will have to gather all the info you have as to when where and how much you paid .. and then submit a photo

Subject: RE: Martin
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 09:50 PM

They sent me a card when I registered mine so I know they got it.

Subject: RE: Martin
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 07:21 AM

So my old Martin needs some TLC ...
Signed
Norma Waterson

Subject: RE: Martin
From: GUEST,George Henderson
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 08:53 AM

He certainly does Norma.

Subject: RE: Martin
From: GUEST,Mary Katherine
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 11:01 AM

Hey Norma, if you're asking for volunteers....!

Love to you both,

Mary Katherine

Subject: RE: Martin
From: Leadfingers
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 11:06 AM

I still have my original receipt from October 1970 , together with the letter from THE MAN thanking me for bouying one of his guitars !

Subject: RE: Martin
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 04:11 PM

Do they float then?

Subject: RE: Martin
From: PoppaGator
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 04:48 PM

I failed to keep my receipt, issued in 1969 for my then-new D-18. For many years, I kept the price tag in my wallet, with the serial number written on it as well as the original price, but that's been gone so long I can't remember whether the price was $299 or $399.

Also, I've never yet tried to get warranty service.

A couple of years ago, I sent an email through the CFMartin website, explaining my situation, providing my serial number, and asking if I could be registered or not.

If they ever got back to me, I've forgotten.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Betsy
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 05:22 PM

Got all the docs - but the lifetime guarantee to which old dude refers - doesn't apply outside the USA does it ? (I'm in the UK)

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Cool Beans
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 06:24 PM

I have the price tag from my 1962 D-28 ($225 from Sam Ash when it was one store in Brooklyn NY) but I don't recall any mail-in form and I sure don't have the receipt. I must look into this. Do they cover work that's recommended but not a thing that needs obvious fixing? I''ve been advised to get the neck reset but it's not an immediate concern.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Stewart
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 08:29 PM

I bought my D-18 new in 1956. If I ever had a warranty or receipt I have no idea. About 25 years ago I had a minor repair made in Minneapolis and simply wrote Martin a letter describing where and when I bought it and the serial number. Martin accepted that without question and repaired it for free. Last year the slot-though bridge broke. I phoned Martin and explained the situation and the free repair 25 years ago. No problem, they again payed for the repair. I continue to be impressed. Where else would you get a warranty honored over 50 years with no papers and no arguing? Oh yes, my D-18 only cost $99.95 (that I remember quite distinctly) new in 1956. And no, I'm not going to sell it.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: pavane
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 07:03 AM

The old photo is obviously to check that you haven't recently stolen it

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 07:43 AM

Betsy - I'm pretty sure the warranty depends on where the guitar was bought. If it was bought from a US dealer, it should be OK (I believe). If you bought from a UK dealer, it's just a one-year jobbie.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: PoppaGator
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 10:19 AM

Stewart, do you have any idea of that '56 D-18's current value? It's probably worth 40 to 50 times that original price of a hundred bucks (if not more).

My 1969 model is worth about $2500-3000, roughly ten times its original cost, but a 1956 would undoubtedly be appraised MUCH higher.

Not that either of us is likely to sell...

Cool Beans, yours is about halfweay between Stewart's and mine in age and presumably value as well. Bought from the original San Ash store, huh? Cool...

I had a neck-reset done about two years ago, by a highly reputable, painstaking, and notoriously s-l-o-o-w local luthier. I'm pleased with the results, and not too worried about the cost (I was better able to afford it at the time than I would be right now), but it took way too long. If I had shipped it to Nazareth, I wonder if the job would've gotten done any sooner...

Thanks to the elves, by the way, for clarifying the thread title.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Betsy
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 05:26 PM

Thanks Backwoodsman, bought brand-new in the UK from a dealer with all the paperwork.
I don't know where you come from, but in the Scotland "jobbie" has quite an appropriate meaning in this context.

Cheers Betsy.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Anglo
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 07:49 PM

I lost the receipt for my 000-28, bought new in 1971, but discovered I had had the sense to register it (surprise, surprise). So I recently got a very nice neck reset, and it plays beautifully. I did pay for a new fret job though (considered as normal wear and tear).

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Bobert
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 09:10 PM

When my '66 D-18 needed some TLC I had to jumpt thru some hoops... Fortunately, I was able to produce a copy of "Note Satisfied" where my parents had co-signed a loan for me to by my Martin... That was a long time ago and now I keep the "Original Owner's Certificate" that Martin gave me back then in a safety deposit box...

B~

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 05:45 AM

LOL Betsy! When I were a lad in The Backwoods of Darkest Lincolnshire, a 'jobbie' meant something similar to your Scottish meaning! Seems to have fallen into disuse nowadays though. :-)

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: olddude
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 09:23 AM

I saw a 56 D-18 offered for 10,000 dollars US
so I would get it insured for sure

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Wesley S
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 09:42 AM

We seem to have a lot of D-18 owners here at the Mudcat. I remember when I bought mine - a used '67 - I figured it was second best to a D-28. Now I'm happy to have the D-18.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 11:14 AM

Yeah, Wesley, when I got my D-18 the idea was that I was getting the least expensive, no-frills, alternative from among Martin's line of top-quality instruments.

I knew it was cheaper and much plainer than the D-28s and D-35s that some of my more affluent friends owned, and felt quite confident that I would never miss all that extra mother-of-pearl, two-tone binding. etc. Who needs it?

What did NOT know then, and not for many years thereafter, was the difference in back-and-sides tonewood ~ mahogany for the 18, rosewood (relatively rare and expensive) for the higher-numbered models.

The two woods have different aural characteristics, and one is not necessarily "better" than the other. The mahogany is lower-priced not because it's particularly inferior to the rosewood, but simply because it is in much shorter supply.

After reading the opinions of others (here and elsewhere ~ mostly here) who prefer the mahogany sound, I've become more conscious of this whole issue, and now I feel very confident that the D-18 mahogany sound is actually better than the rosewood for my purposes. When I play someone else's higher-numbered Martin Dread, I can't get the sound I want the way I can on my own relatively modest old box.

Of course, this phenomenon can probably be explained by the simple fact that I've been playing that same single instrument for nearly forty years, and along the way have undoubtedly ~ and mostly unconsciously ~ developed a style and a repertoire of techniques that work for my one particular guitar, with all its unique qualities and quirks.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jun 08 - 09:59 PM

Ok, took my old D-28 for some work. The guy that is doing it is authorized by Martin. However a fret job is not covered and didn't think it was, just some of the other minor stuff i need. Is 200 us dollars reasonable for a very good fret job?

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 06:59 AM

You Martin-ites might want to take a look at The Unnoficial Martin Guitar Forum - lots of interesting and informative stuff on there (and little of the nasty stuff we unfortunately get on Mudcat - a nice bunch of people, the UMGF-ers).

http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.yuku.com/

(Sorry, can't make the blicky thingy work!)

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 11:16 AM

Back in 2004 or so, I got a fret job AND a neck reset on my D-18, in the US and from a highly regarded luthier, for ~ I think ~ a little less than $300. My memory may not be correct, and I didn't save the receipt, but I'm fairly sure of the approximate cost. (I think I'd remember more clearly if the amount was much higher.)

If my memory is correct, and if $200 is indeed about right for the re-fretting part of the job, that would have put the neck reset at just under $100. Could that be correct? Maybe not.

Sawing off and reattaching the neck seems pretty scary to me, a job I would not entrust to just anyone. But I suppose that, for a qualified craftsman, it's a relatively quick and simple procedure compared to the fret job. There's only one neck, and thus only one readjustment to doublecheck and refine.

The fret job, on the other hand, involves 20 or more separate operations, each of which needs to be at least as accurate as the single operation involved in the neck job, and each of which is probably just as time-consuming, or nearly so. So maybe it does make sense for the frets to cost appx double the charge for the neck.

I'm sure that someone out there reading this does this kind of work and might have a comment or two.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Cool Beans
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 12:06 PM

I once got a fret job and a neck reset in Boston's infamous Combat Zone and it didn't cost no $300 neither.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 12:36 PM

Cool Beans: how long ago?

The $260-280 I paid in '04 is probably equivalent to more than that today, and probably no more than $150-200 in, say, 1980 dollars.

As I said, my memory is a bit hazy about how much I paid. The worst aspect of that repair job was that the guy took so damn long. I'm not a collector, and own only the one guitar; I was miserable to be without it after the first two weeks or so.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 12:41 PM

I own a '62 D-21. I modified it about twenty-five years ago when the original Klusons started malfunctioning. I saved them, but replaced them with good quality Goto(sp?)tuners. I never thought much about this till someone said,"Nice guitar. Too bad it doesn't have the original tuners." I do have the original tuners, but I wonder what difference replacing them made to the value of my guitar.

When I first got my guitar, I wrote to Mike Longworth, asking him why they quit making the D-21 in 1969. He said that most people were paying the extra $20 to get the ebony fingerboard and white binding. I realize I'm prejudiced, but I prefer the looks of the tortoise coloured binding of the D-21 and D-18s.

I noticed that someone mentioned D-35s above. The only visible difference I can see between a D-28 and a D-35 is the three piece back and bound fingerboard on the D-35. Are there any other differences? Does one sound different? Mike Lonfgworth's book states that Martin started making D-35s in the '60s because they were having difficulty finding pieces of rosewood big enough to make two piece backs. It seems odd that they would charge more for this instrument unless there was some greater difference.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: olddude
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 10:31 PM

I own a D-35 that I bought back in 71. I gave it to my brother. It is a fancier but the sound to me wasn't any better than a D-28. Both have the rosewood backs but the 35 is a 3 piece. I think it is just the added inlay

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: GUEST,Old Sawdust
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 01:22 PM

Neck reset, 700 us dollars, refret, total around 200-300, partial refret, around 150

thems is why you want to register you gitfiddle

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: olddude
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 01:26 PM

Absolutely correct register the guitar .. I had to jump through some hoops but Martin Registered it for me. I have the two registration cards ... one is in the case of the guitar, the other is in the safe

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Peace
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 01:37 PM

Register my guitar? Yeah. First it was my birth, then the car, then the rifle. F##K 'em. I'll register my guitar when they pry it from my cold dead hands--or somethin' like that.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Amos
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 02:36 PM

The Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum FWIW.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: PoppaGator
Date: 29 Jul 09 - 01:05 PM

A thirteen-month hiatus, and this thread is back again, telling me that the price I paid three years ago for a neck-reset-plus-refretting was probably a bargain at $300 or less, compared to a grand or so in today's dollars.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Peace
Date: 29 Jul 09 - 01:09 PM

$300 is a steal.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: PoppaGator
Date: 29 Jul 09 - 02:08 PM

Now I don't feel so bad about the luthier taking his time & keeping guitar for well over a month.

Another question:

IF I were to successfully persuade CF Martin to recognize me as an original owner eligible for the lifetime warranty, would the fact that I've already had work done on the instrument make it ineligible?

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Jul 09 - 02:48 PM

I keep the owner's certificate for my '66 D-18 in the safety deposit box... Never know???

Okay, I have since lent (wink, wink) it to my 16 year old grand niece who plays it daily and also plays it in her school band but technically if it ever needs anything, we are covered...

Over the years the Martin folks have been very, very good to me... Even fixed stuff that I caused...

B~

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: DebC
Date: 29 Jul 09 - 03:46 PM

I am the original owner of my 1989 HD-28 and the binding had come away from the body of the guitar in two different places at different times. Both times, I had the binding repaired by a certificated Martin technician near where I live and the entire bill was $0.

I have to agree with Bobert. Martin has been good to me as well.

Debra Cowan

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: Songbob
Date: 30 Jul 09 - 02:41 PM

I had one of those "You know you're getting old when..." moments when I took a 1943 0-18 to the Martin factory to get the neck reset and the bridge (planed down in an attempt to get it playable with the flat neck angle) replaced.

They asked, "Are you the original owner?"

And I could have said, "Sort of -- my dad got it for me when I was four." But I told the truth, that I got it from the original owner as a gift, when he remarried at age 80 and decided he no longer had time to try to play the guitar he'd had all those years.

So I didn't faint when the price for the work came to $853, since that's all I had in it.

Bob

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: olddude
Date: 30 Jul 09 - 09:26 PM

NO having other work done does not invalidate the registration. Trust me on that one. Now go and dig out an old photo of you holding the guitar way back when. Funny Martin will not accept a certified letter swearing you were the original owner, they don't accept that anymore. But if you can show them a photo like I did way back when with the guitar, then they say ok and will register it for you. I had bridge work done on my guitar prior to the registration and Martin still had their authorized repair place fix it and paid for it in full with the exception of the new fret job

unless the work you had done before totally messed up the guitar it will not affect your warranty ... I just went though it 13 months ago

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: olddude
Date: 30 Jul 09 - 09:27 PM

Peace, that was great ... can't stop laughing at that one ... good job making me chuckle

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: olddude
Date: 30 Jul 09 - 09:28 PM

by the way I was absolutely the original owner of the guitar. I had to take a 400 dollar loan out at the time to buy it ... amazing how things change huh .. try buying one today for 400 bucks new .. LOL

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: PoppaGator
Date: 31 Jul 09 - 01:23 PM

My favorite OLD photos of myself with my guitar were taken by my late friend Charley Wordell at Earth Peoples Park in northern Vermont, back in the summer of 1971. I know for sure that those particular pictures got lost in the Katrina floodwaters.

I may or may not have any other such photos old enough to mean much of anything. Think CF Martin would sympathize if I tried to "play the Katrina card"?

I might also note that the music store where it was puchased has long since gone out of business, so there's little or no possibility of digging up any records from that source.

Subject: RE: Martin Guitar Registration
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 11:31 AM

Well, as has been said before, Martin guarantees are useless outside the US.
Pity, I see no reason why they coukldn't appoint a competant luthier to deal with things over here.

Anybody wanna buy a D28 ☺☻

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Thread closed because it's been a target for a heavy barrage of Spam. If you have something to add to the discussion, please start a new thread.
-Joe Offer-