In its latest effort to protect its brand, guitar maker C.F. Martin & Co. has announced the trademark of the headstock configuration it has been using on its guitars for 161 years. “The clean, simple, iconic shape of the Martin guitar headstock has long been recognized by consumers as one of the primary identifying brand and design elements of our guitars,” Vice President of Corporate Operations Gregory Paul said in a news release. “Use of this shape by others can…

Fifteen LX Martin guitars will be donated to the Dessaix-Baptiste Music School in Jacmel, Haiti courtesy of C.F. Martin Guitar and Jimmy Buffett’s charity, “Singing for Change.” Buffett will present the school with the Martin guitars later this month. The Dessaix-Baptiste Music School offers music education to children, regardless of ability to pay tuition. Many of the school’s instruments were destroyed in Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. Instruction at the school is offered in string, wind, brass and percussion starting at age…

From the press release: C.F. Martin & Co. is proud to announce the introduction of two new Custom Artist Edition guitars: the Martin JSO! Sing Out Pete Seeger (6-string) and the Martin J12SO! Sing Out Pete Seeger (12-string). The guitars mark the 60th anniversary of Sing Out!, the magazine, songbook publisher and syndicator of traditional music radio shows that Seeger helped found in 1950. To mark this milestone, no more than 120 of these guitars are being built, signed by…

Shortly after extinguishing a house fire in a Fishersville, Virginia, home late Friday night, local firefighters began working with the home’s owner to see what could be salvaged. Augusta County firefighter Jason Melton said that his crew, accompanied by the Preston Yancey Fire Department, responded to a emergency call at 85 Painter Lane. “We were able to subdue it fairly quickly,” Melton said. No one was injured. The cause has yet to be determined. The home’s owner, local musician Buddy…

Barry Peters of York lost at the Pennsylvania Lottery. And he won a $4,000 Martin guitar because he did. Peters on Thursday was presented a Martin Performing Artist Series GPCPA1 guitar at the C.F. Martin & Co. plant in Nazareth. He won it in the lottery ‘s Win For Life Martin Guitar promotional drawing. He and two others — Deborah Cohen, of Sunbury, Northumberland County, and Jean Gatlin, of Beaver Falls, Beaver County — were chosen after mailing in $10…

Maroon 5 are encouraging fans to connect with an environmentally friendly nonprofit group (http://challenge.greenmusicgroup.org/). Sign up for an e-mail list, support a conservation or other campaign, or volunteer. Then snap a picture of yourself and the nonprofit’s logo, and dream of strumming a cherry wood Martin. Maroon 5 is a founding member of the Green Music Group, which helps bring local nonprofits out to concerts, giving organizations a platform and helping them connect with fans. The band wants to take…

In response to suggestions from Martin Owners Club members, the new 00-15M offers a blues-type guitar reminiscent of small-bodied Martins of the 1930s. Favored by legions of blues players, these mahogany bodied guitars have a warm tone and clear voice all their own. The 00-15M is further enhanced tonally by Martin’s A-frame Sitka bracing. A single ring wood rosette is used in keeping with the old 30s tradition. The genuine mahogany 14-fret neck has the classic solid headstock with vintage-style…

wsj.com NAZARETH, Pa. — At a bustling factory on the outskirts of this eastern Pennsylvania town, one of the world’s oldest guitar makers is using a Depression-era strategy to keep production flowing and avert layoffs. Workers at C.F Martin & Co. are putting finishing touches on the solid-wood 1 Series model, so named for its simplicity. It lacks inlay, as did the company’s stripped-down 1930s model, and is expected to sell for less than $1,000, breaking a key price point…

Just in case you haven’t been keeping track, here is a roundup of some new guitars announced recently: Gibson Custom Shop Alex Lifeson ES-355 Signature Guitar: Canadian-born guitarist’s career is being honored with Gibson Custom Shop’s recent introduction of the Alex Lifeson ES-355 Electric Guitar.  This is a semi-hollowbody electric guitar painstaking re-creation of Lifeson’s favored instrument, a 1976 Gibson ES-355.  The Alex Lifeson ES-355 guitar has a maple body and three-piece maple neck. It features a special Maestro Long Vibrola tremolo tailpiece and individual volume…

Forbes has a feature story on Martin Guitars, still going strong after 175 years of guitar manufacturing.  Martin currently sells 90,000 guitars per year – the most out of all manufacturers in the United States. According to CEO Chris Martin, 52, the economic downturn of late hasn’t affected sales, but he is troubled about the not too distant future. Amazingly, they were almost bankrupt in 1982, but managed to turn the company around.  Martin has grown explosively since then – while…