The tale of the Pot Seed Martin…read more
In 1972, I bought a brand new Martin D-35 somewhere in Maryland, where I was stationed while working for the NSA. I played the hell out of that guitar, and afterwards as a civilian, trotted it with me as I hitchhiked around North America. I was performing one night, in a bar in Montana, when an errant seed popped out of the joint I was smoking, and landed right on the guitar, burning a perfect little circle into the binding.
Put a pin in that.
Flash forward a few years to the late 70s, when I sold the Martin to my friend Bob for traveling money. Flash forward again, a few years later, when I asked to buy it back, but Bob just grinned and shook my hand; "no" was all he said.
Every couple years, same question, same answer.
"Nope."
Eventually, that morphed into "you can have it when I die," and so it remained thus, for 30 years or so, whereupon Bob suddenly passed away. True to his word, his friend returned the guitar to me within days.
I opened the case and was dismayed.
The Martin was destroyed (see pictures from previous post). It had turned orange with cigarette smoke, and sat in an uninsulated attic, neglected, for who knows how many years. I let it air out for a year or so just to get the cigarette stink tamed, but didn't think there was anything salvageable there. Bob really trashed that guitar.
Cut ahead another 10 years, when I decided to see if anything could be done. The guys at 12th Fret Guitar gave me some good news: not only could they repair the Martin, they could make it better than new! When I told them the tale of how it came to be in their shop, they dubbed it the "Pot Seed Martin," and so finally my guitar had a name. You can see the seed burn below.
A flaw in the production of 1972 Martins caused a slight intonation problem that they could fix when repairing the cracked bridge. Ray at 12th Fret replaced the bridge, removed and reset the neck, refretted the fretboard, fixed the cracked bracings, replaced the pick guard (that had basically become a cup holder), repaired the existing binding, and replaced a missing foot-long section completely. He painstakingly "aged" it to match the cigarette-orange color of the original binding. He also replaced the awful cigarette-stained mother-of-pearl inlay in the headstock with the Martin logo, and aged that as well.
Now, 46 years later, I once again have a "new" Martin. A little older and wiser perhaps, scarred by various blunt and pointed objects, and rich in history and adventures (if only the wood could talk), and now the Pot Seed Martin is home and singing loud and clear.
In case it isn't obvious, I highly recommend 12th Fret Guitar for all your guitar needs.
