The way I understand the story is...
The collectors dream guitar is a pre-war Martin. These are
guitars made
before WWII. Back then, Martin had the X brace, which is
behind the front
of the guitar, closer to the soundhole. This gave the guitars
a
distinctive sound. The problem was, because there was less
bracing under
the belly of the guitar, over time the belly would poke out from the
pull of the
strings on the bridge which wasn't always a bad thing but customers
looked at it
as a defect. Martin then moved the X brace back towards the
belly a little
to prevent this from happening but doing this changed the tone of the
guitars,
not to say that newer Martin guitars sound bad. Because so
many guitarists
want these old guitars and there aren't that many to go around or
they're too
expensive, Martin has come out with a "Vintage Series" where they have
gone back to the old pre-war style. I've played a few of
these. They
sound great. Hopefully someday I'll be able to try an
original old pre-war
Martin to see what it's all about.
Bob, Gman ( o )==#
X Brace
