Martin guitars from the 1970’s are somewhat controversial but easily available on the used guitar market, and often the prices are attractive. I see just-purchased examples come in regularly and I thought a little information about them would be helpful.

The 70’s were a very busy period for Martin; the folk boom and the late 60’s rock revolution spawned a bumper crop of customers, and the factory was building many more instruments than ever before in their history.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that when quantity goes up at an unprecedented rate, quality can suffer. Any manufacturing firm can be subject to these challenges and Martin was not immune. It is not unusual to see a small but significant percentage of these guitars cursed with substandard materials and a few cases of production line errors.

After handling and working on countless Martin instruments from this era, I’ve gotten a pretty good sense of what the trouble spots can be.

On any guitar 30+ years old, many routine problems come up. Loose braces, poor neck angles, cracks, etc. are straightforward repair and maintenance issues that can be dealt with.

There are other problems that may make a particular guitar from this era undesirable. The neck and the soundboard are the two most important components of a guitar and these are exactly the areas that can be trouble on a small percentage of Martins.

Neck problems were very rare on Martins until the late 60’s when someone got the great idea to replace the time tested steel “t-bar” neck reinforcement with a flimsy square section hollow tube. You have to wonder why this got past the drawing board but it did, and they stuck with it until the late 80’s.

The problem with the “new” neck rod did not affect all the guitars, but with the increased production, now and again the bottom of the barrel was dredged and this produced some very weak neck blanks which, in turn, produced very flexible necks. The neck reinforcement was not adequate to support the substandard necks, and weak tone along with excessive neck relief was the result.

Most of the necks from this period held up well but just enough were “noodle necks” to damage the company’s reputation for quality. This may have been the first widespread instance of Martin screwing up, and many players and techs got up in arms over it and concluded that all production from that era was flawed. Of course, that was not the case, but once that kind of news got around, there was no stopping it.

Soundboard quality was the second major issue to come up. Once again, increased production seemed to strain the stock and supply of quality spruce, and a depressing number of guitars had soundboards with poor grain orientation. So-called vertical grain produces the best soundboards. Take a look at the edge or the soundhole on your flattop, viewing from the bridge toward the end of the fretboard. The edge grain should run from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock or very close. If you see a grain pattern leaning over to the side, it is less than ideal. If it leans WAY over, like 45 degrees or so, the strength of the board is compromised.

The weak boards exhibited problems such as excessive bellying behind the bridge and often significant dipping in front of the bridge. Sound quality usually suffered and many of these guitars exhibit boomy and indistinct bass tones with weak, tinny trebles. Not why people buy Martins.

To complicate the problem, sometimes a very weak neck met a very weak soundboard, so we ended up with significantly impeded tone production AND necks that had very pronounced relief or up bow. Terrific, eh?. Weak tone and impossible action.

One last nail in this coffin was the number of guitars that had the bridge saddle located about .100 short of where it should be.

If you own an instrument that exhibits any of these symptoms, all is not lost. Despite the less than ideal materials and workmanship, many of them sound fine. The beauty of Martins’ basic design (and why virtually everyone who builds flattops copies it no matter what they claim) is that it is a very reliable recipe for nice sound. It’s hard to build a really bad-sounding flattop.

The weak necks can be stiffened but usually at substantial cost. The faulty bridge location is a fairly simple fix. The weak soundboard……..well, you’re going to have to live with that one.

If you’re shopping for a Martin from this era, I’d have to say be very cautious and insist on an inspection/approval period. If you know a tech who is VERY EXPERIENCED with Martin guitars have him take a look at it.

My personal opinion?………I have to say that unless a particular instrument had markedly superior tone, I would take a pass on the entire decade, extending it even up to the eighties when Nazareth finally woke up and began to use their excellent adjustable truss rod. I’m speaking here as a hands-on tech and builder; bad design and execution annoys the hell out of me no matter how many other virtues may be exhibited. I’m funny that way.

In closing, lest you think I’m a Martin basher…..no, I’m just realistic about them. I remain very much a Martin fan, and I think they are building their best guitars right now. If I were in the market for a flattop, theirs is the line I’d consider first and what I’d compare every thing else to.