Martin and Company (often referred to as Martin), invented the flat-top acoustic guitar. Christian Fredrick Martin, the innovative mind behind C.F. While their approaches and tonalities differed, their production quality established them both in guitar history.īecause of their dedication to steel-string production in 1921, Martin made the most important breakthrough regarding the new feature: creating a flat top guitar that could survive the tension of steel strings without the use of a tailpiece. Each company, inspired by the other, developed the standard models for archtop and flat-top guitars that would become the basis for many later innovations for the remainder of the century. They managed to produce the loudest, most memorable steel-stringed guitars on the market. Martin and Company and Gibson Bands Incorporated were kings within the guitar industry at the height of the 20th century, both eager to meet consumer demands. But by the late 20s, steel strings were commonplace and by the 30s they were standard.Ĭ.F. Guitar makers started using steel strings on Hawaiian guitars (square neck guitars) early on, and even offered custom options to buyers to have their flat top and arch top guitars equipped with steel strings (as opposed to the standard gut strings). One could easily say that the history of the guitar is a quest for volume. As they got louder, you get Rock n Roll, then Hard Rock, Punk, and Metal – all the major historical genres that feature the guitar as the primary instrument. And thank goodness for that because that sparked the genesis of amplified guitars. The crazy cool cats of jazz even adopted the guitar, where the guitar was faced with an old problem. Country and Western music were born on the guitar and took the guitar to national fame on the radio. In the 1910s and 20s, the steel string guitar replaced the banjo as the primary instrument of the people’s music – folk and blues. It was the steel string guitar on which we wrote the soundtrack of America. Steel strings had a voice that could rise above the fire pits and the chatter. It could not be heard in public settings, so it stayed among families in their private spaces. Though the guitar was a wonderful instrument for solo playing and voice accompaniment, it was a quiet instrument. As the 20th Century began here in America, the guitar was mostly played by women in the parlors of their homes.
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