Vintage Ukulele

Of all the ukulele brands out there, the vintage Martin is the most desirable and sought after by collectors and players alike.

The C.F.Martin company, established in 1833 as a guitar manufacturer, branched into ukulele production in 1916 after a failed attempt 9 years earlier. This time they were an instant success.

Ukes were soon found everywhere. They were easy to play, small enough to carry anywhere and very affordable. Simple "how to play ukulele" courses were advertised in magazines and newspapers, and playing the instrument became quite a fad for many years.

Those first Martins came out in 3 configurations; Style 1, Style 2 and Style 3, all made of mahogany. Style 1 was the lowest priced and least decorated. Styles 2 and 3 were progressively fancier and pricier.
In 1920, equivalent models were also introduced made from beautiful light-weight Hawaiian Koa.

In 1922, a very fancy model named 5-K, with intricate pearl bordering, was added to the line up. This model is now very highly sought after - and prices can be sky high.

But most sales in those days came from the plain, cheaper models. Style 1 was easily the biggest seller with its low price and minimal decoration. Soon an even cheaper model was added. Named Style 0, it sold for just $10 at the time. These proved to be a great success.

The first Ukulele fad lasted all of 15 years .. right up until the Great Depression of the 1930's. The second ukulele craze began right after World War II when Hawaiian music became hugely popular. This was largely due to the servicemen returning home after their stations in Hawaii. Once again Martin stepped up production to meet the growing demand.

These days the Martin company builds ukes only rarely, but all signs are pointing to a great resurgence in popularity once again. We predict that 2010 will be the beginning of the latest ukulele craze .. and Martin had better start dusting off the old work benches.

A Nice Collection of Vintage Martin Soprano Ukuleles:
(Music is Art Fowler "The Wizard of the ukulele" singing Everythingsmade.)

Here are some Martin Ukuleles available for purchasing today.
For more details, click on the links below:

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 24th, 2009 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Ukuleles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.