Wild to think that this guitar was already 50+ years old when they repaired it in 1900.

The guitar sounds great! Looked into Martin guitar repairman J.J. (John Jacob) Knecht and found a few things: Born 26 Sept 1872 in Northampton County, PA and was living with his wife Bertha (1873-1914; married 30 Oct 1895) in her family's residence in Nazareth in 1900, where he was listed in the census as a "guitar maker". By 1910, Knecht was working as a pattern maker in a foundry, by 1918 was a Teamster, probably never worked as a guitar maker again. Died in 1946, New Jersey. Didn't seem to be a "senior craftsman", or if he was, it appears other work paid more or was more satisfying for a married man with a growing family. He also descended from a long line of native born Knechts going back until at least the 1700's.

A pleasure to watch you work on such a wonderful instrument, thank you.

Yeah I can just imagine that guy doing the repair work in 1900. “Let’s try and preserve some of this guitar’s history and originality, heck it’s 60 years old!” Lol I wonder if he had any inclination that guitar would still be making music an additional 122 years later and still going strong!

Quite a privilege to work on that antique Martin!. But it's still a player, as it was meant to be. As usual, thanks for the mini history lesson. They are much appreciated and enjoyed.

I thought that this time you missed the drill.. "Polishing, polishing, polishing", but it turned out that there's another cool one, "Radiusing, radiusing, radiusing". It's always a joy watching your videos nonmatter what the job, the story, or the drill is :) with love from Lebanon :)

I've never heard before of a "birds mouth" joint, or that the headstocks used to be grafted onto the neck. Pretty interesting. And what an amazing thing to see a guitar that old and in that kind of shape. What a cool thing to see. And I've said this before, but I really love your guitar playing, Ted.

This Guitar has been strung w/ Nylon Strings when it came to you, & that's a success because these old Acoustic Guitars were originally designed for Gut Strings (what would now be Nylon).

“A really diminutive little heel” is now my new favorite insult.

It's good to see that this guitar survived for so long. It's one of those things where it was very well built, but also very fragile to the elements. It reminds me of all the Strad violins that survived, and also makes you wonder how many were destroyed over the years from house fires, wars, being improperly kept, etc. Right now as I am typing this, I wonder how many original Les Paul '58-'60 bursts are sitting in damp basements, or super hot, and humid attics just inches away from being unsalvageable...Or any other prized vintage guitar for that matter.

Enjoyed your walk through on this guitar. I worked for Martin guitar in the same shop that this guitar would have been built. Fascinating to see such an old guitar still operational after all these years. It brings me back to the attic of that plant where the "old parts" were stored. There were tops, backs and sides from guitars, mandolin's and ukes up there from all kinds of era's. The bridge on this guitar you question looks to have been replaced in my opinion. A true pyramid bridge would have had very defined points. I've seen a bunch of them over the years at Martin and I've never seen one like this bridge. The saddle in some would have had the dog ears but that was dropped early on over the straight slot. Also like the idea of the knot on the strings in place of a ball end. We would however use a stopper knot or barrel knot over what you tied as those knots wouldn't slip like the overhand knot you tied. Again great video and a walk through time. Oh and it does get dry in the winter at the Martin plant. However in the basement their runs a small stream year round. Maybe that was to add moisture to the plant. I always thought it odd it being there and planned as it was built into the concrete floor to be channeled through the basement for some distance before it exited. Just thought of that when you talked about being dry.

That is the best nylon string guitar sound I have ever heard.

I'm a competent hobbyist mechanic, poor guitar player, and appreciator of craftsmanship. I stumbled upon your channel just recently and watched several of your videos. I must say, you have to have a huge amount of patience as well as nerves of steel to do this type of work. For most of us watching, it's not hard to imagine each step going horribly wrong and leaving an eye sore, or worse yet a ruined instrument. It's good to see this level of craftsmanship still persevering in our country today, Cheers to you my friend

Wow, what an amazing guitar. To think it’s almost 200 years old and looks that good and even been fixed over 50 years after being built by Martin is incredible history. What is the name of the song you were playing at the end? It sounded so beautiful.

What a great piece of Marten history. Thank you Ted for walking us through the inside of this one. Great sound sound two.

Having been lucky enough to spend a few years working (in sales) at “Mandolin Brothers “ in Staten Island, New York I did have the opportunity to see and play some antique Martins. What always struck me was that , despite their age, size and string type, you could close yours eyes and immediately identify the “Martin Sound”! They also had a top rated repair shop in the basement and I spent lots of time watching their talented staff repairing and restoring- which makes me really appreciate your skills and knowledge of fretted instruments. I’m totally addicted!

Sticking a candle in the sound hole was frowned upon Hendrix: Hold my lighter fluid

"Sticking a candle in the sound hole was frowned upon" 🤣Priceless

I like the look of that reinforcing volute where the neck meets the back of the headstock. Perhaps if Gibson did something like this they wouldn't have so many broken headstocks.

I was worried when I didn't hear polishing, polishing. But was relieved at the radiusing, radiusing.

I appreciate your sense of awe. Many workmen have lost that. Very few instruments I would consider ancient, or approaching ancient, have ever made me think ''Daily Player''. That little guitar is definitely a daily player - alone, in a padded room with 4 deadbolts, after a manicure and dipping my hands in degreaser then washing them 4 times, of course.

Absolutely beautiful and incredible instrument. An honor to work on it for sure. It tells much of your skills and character.

Great show as always.

I've taken the Martin factory tour twice (my son attended university near Nazareth) and they were fun and informative . . . but I've learned far more about their history and guitars from watching Ted's videos. Thank you, sir. You are a font of information and an excellent presenter (and your guitar repair work ain't half bad, either).

Fascinating. Thank you

This was a great video. Thank You.

sounds amazing..nice work

Stunning guitar, thanks for showing it.

Sounds amazing.

What a wonderful video, thanks for posting!

Beautiful instrument, sounds amazing!!

So amazing, Thank You

Absolutely incredible

There you go... CF Martin himself had his hands, eyes and soul on this guitar as it came together. What's better than that! Love my D28 Custom.... great video. Thanks

This video was fabulous.

I wasn't expecting that shoutout to Emma! She's a great player and a wonderful person.

sounds beautiful

That was a real treat!

What a lovely guitar and history lesson! Thank you!

What a treat! Always amazing to see you work

Great sounding old Martin, and great video.

And it sounds wonderful.

Wow ... This was so cool!

Great playing demo at the end too.

Beautiful

Great job, sounds good too!

“Sticking a candle in the sound hole was frowned upon” 🤣🤣🤣

Yay! Love your channel, thanks! Live a few miles from Martin guitar so I love seeing these old Martins in your videos

Wonderful!

Very Good. I really enjoyed your story.

Another great video!! Live the history that comes with your videos too. You have a wealth of knowledge

Outstanding Video as always. The little tune at the end was amazing!

That guitar sounds beautiful. Upon cursory research regarding the phrase 'turn of the century', it can be used both ways. It just means period shortly before, during and/or after the 100 year tick over.

As always the information and history explanation is above the bar, thank you for the content!

This beautiful Martin is almost as old as I. Your videos have provided tips that I have transferred to furniture repair, wood bed frames, and ‘budget’ out of the box entertainment centers for TVs and the like. Those pieces should never become loose and wobbly. Thanks for all you do.

Best yet! I could spend hours watching a tour through this guitar like this. Great job!

And sound great ! Thanks for sharing ! (and teasing next video :p )

This is turning out to be my favorite channel on youtube. I've been binging all of the videos here. This episode is a great one. That Martin is awesome... Thanks!

You repair guitars so well it makes me jealous. Your grasp of the history of guitars is awe-inspiring. The only thing missing is seeing you build an acoustic guitar from scratch. I feel as though it would be perfect. I also feel as though it would make an amazing video series.

What a wonderful piece of history! And the tone - wow! Absolutely gorgeous. As great sounding as anything I've heard. Thanks for sharing.

wow. This was really fun. Thanks!

Great video.

Love the history of that instrument!

Very nice work

Wow! Thanks 😊

What a beauty! I love it, and you are the only person I would trust to work on it. Great job!

Great shape for the age and it sounds fantastic too! Thank you for your videos Ted!!

Cool stuff, dude! Thanks for showing it.

Wonderful to happen upon you sir...extremely interesting... Thank you

Great video. Thanks for the info on Emma Rush and Madame De Goni as well.

This is a treat. This parlor is a gem! This old lady (1840) is in great shape. I like the tool used for the saddle 11:42, ingenious! Thank you Ted for the tip for the strings (knot)!

Thank you for what brings you joy.

That guitar really has a beautiful tone! What a gem!

Really love your forensic observations regarding previous repairs. I learn so much.

You are an incredible luthier! Its truly wonderful to see someone in their element, giving their take, and the research. Toby Kieth gave my wife a guitar back in the early 90's. I had the bridge reset in the early 2000's by a respected local luthier. He used hide glue and didn't score away the finish under the bridge. It lifted again after about two weeks. I reset it Wednesday and will string it up tomorrow.

i can always tell when you really like a guitar- your playing at the end speaks volumes! nice work and thanks for sharing this old gem with us twoody.

I just finished watching Adam Savage play with an aluminum foil ball that was cut in half, and in the time I was watching that, this video was posted. Awesome timing!

this thing just blew my mind, what an amazing guitar, a piece of history

That fretboard is stunning. What a cool instrument!

As always awesome content. I truly love watching your Martin repair videos, and I like the way you point out how they were made. I hope someday to own a affordable modern Martin and these videos motivate me toward that goal.

Love the history and the mystery.

Very beautiful instrument..sounds amazing..nice job you have done,caring for it...

That's one awesome instrument... sounds great too!

My god that sound is incredible

I really appreciated your reflected hand movements in the back. Pretty cool

Thank you so much for sharing this with us, Ted. Your work is always impeccable! 👌 I know I've tried more than my fair share of stuff thanks to your channel. Not because you did anything specific. I was just able to pick up info along the way and put it to use. 🙏 Thanks again, Ted!

Gorgeous guitar, beautiful work, I always feel rested after watching Ted's videos. It is like a form of meditation.

It's good to check the ingredient label on the tung oil, it's common to see tung oils that have a mix of different oils and other stuff in it rather than 100% pure tung oil, even though they can still call both "tung oil".

EXcellent alliteration!! 😉 And lovely, patient, craftsmanship.

Awesome!

natural reverb....great soothing sound

“STICKING A CANDLE ON THE SOUND HOLE WAS FROWNED UPON.” 🤣 😂

Informative & Educational video Thank you 🙏✌🏼

Interesting history of the guitar and company......thank you.

I continue to learn and enjoy it! Lol. Thanks Ted.

I think I've seen nearly every one of your videos. I'll never cease to be amazed at your knowledge of guitar history and the meticulous, precise way you do your repairs. This shows your great love for the guitar, itself.

Great video, I knew very little of the Martin history. I love classicals😀

One of my favorite episodes yet! The guitar and your info is fascinating of course, and I especially loved the little history lesson highlighting the importance of women as guitar players in that era and of Delores de Goñi. I love learning new stuff like this! Further evidence that there was more going on in American music than the minstrel realm, not that that didn't produce some valuable music that in turn led to other things...

WOW. The sound of that thing.

Oh man! This is huge! Thanks so much.The historical value of this instrument is immense. I had no idea that X bracing went back this far. This is guitar Genesis.