Martin has unveiled a limited edition 00-21 Gram Parsons signature guitar, based on the 1963 model he used as his number one acoustic guitar.
The launch marks what would have been the 80th birthday of the late pioneer of “Cosmic American Music” and former member of the Byrds and Flying Burritos, and it comes just days before Parsons is inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this coming Saturday, November 14.
Martin is only making 80 of these small-bodied acoustics. Even at $5,499 they are sure to sell like hotcakes. There is something irresistible about a small-bodied Martin guitar.
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Parsons certainly thought so. His ’63 00-21 is now owned by Emmylou Harris – only when Martin’s executive chairman, Chris Martin IV, and his team reached out to her, she didn’t actually have it. It was at the Country Music Hall Of Fame. Eventually, they managed to secure a loan to take the guitar back to Nazareth, PA, and get to work on the replica.
“Emmylou ended up with his Martin guitar, and it was in storage, I believe, at the Country Music Hall Of Fame, and that was then the discussion we were having about, ‘Could we do an artist model?’” says Martin. “Talking to the family, the Country Music Hall Of Fame, Emmylou, could we get access to the guitar to make a reproduction, and that took quite a while. We made it across the finish line. Here we are, we have it, the Gram Parsons artist model, Martin 00-21. That was his go-to acoustic guitar.”
(Image credit: Martin Guitar)
The Gram Parsons 00-21 hews close to that design. A 12-fret acoustic, it has a top fashioned from “old growth” Sitka spruce that’s been subtly aged using Martin’s VTS (Vintage Tone System). Martin has also applied its VTS thermal aging treatment to the Adirondack scalloped spruce bracing.
The back and sides are East Indian Rosewood, as is the fingerboard and bridge. The neck is mahogany and has a satin finish and – be still our beating hearts – it has the slotted headstock too. What we can’t see but would love to feel is that V-profile on the neck.
(Image credit: Martin Guitar)
Something irresistible about small-bodied Martins? That is especially so when you’ve got the slotted headstock. This one has the period-correct Style 28 fingerboard inlays. The 24.9” scale length, and the wider 47.63 mm nut.
Little wonder Parsons was so enamoured by this, and why Keith Richards considers the 00-21 one of his all-time favourite acoustic guitars. Richards and Parsons became fast friends; a love of 00-21 acoustics was just one of many shared interests.
Parsons’ ability to bring a country sensibility to rock, folk, blues, rhythm and blues made him one of the most influential guitarists of his generation. Cosmic American Music really was the best way to describe it.
You can watch Chris Martin and Martin clinician Craig Thatcher talk about Parsons’ influence, his sound, and the development of the guitar – and hear Thatcher play this magnificent instrument – in the video above. And you van find out more over at Martin.
