Join Chris Martin IV to learn about Martin’s latest take on a guitar that helped shape music history.
Hawaiian musician Major Kealakai was a guitarist and conductor of the Royal Hawaiian Band, and in 1916, Martin made him a unique custom guitar that was wider, deeper, and longer than a 000 to provide more volume and help fill concert halls. That one-off guitar was the precursor to the iconic Dreadnought, a guitar that set the standard for decades of acoustic excellence and has since become the most widely copied acoustic guitar design of all time.
Now, Martin is honoring that historic milestone with a new take on Kealakai’s custom 12-fret guitar with a refreshed bridge design to better complement the traditional specifications, as if the company continued to produce it well past 1916. The Custom K-1 Major Kealakai features vintage gloss sinker mahagony back and sides, an Adirondack spruce VINTAGE TONE SYSTEM® top, hide glue construction, authentic 1931 X bracing, and a modern, embellished ebony pyramid belly bridge.
It blends tradition and innovation, paying tribute to the rich heritage of Martin.
Learn more about this guitar, and our other custom and special edition models, at https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/custom-special-editions/
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