A short-scale 12-fret modelled on Parsons' 1963 acoustic arrives in the year of his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction and 80th birthday.
Gram Parsons would have turned 80 on 5 November, and Martin marked the date with a run of 80 guitars modelled on the 1963 00-21 he played throughout his career.
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Born Ingram Cecil Connor III in Winter Haven, Florida, Parsons brought country, rock, folk and soul together into what he called “Cosmic American Music” before his death in 1973 at 26. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is inducting him this year in its Musical Influence category, and the original guitar has been in the hands of his former musical partner Emmylou Harris.
Martin’s team studied the well-worn original closely before settling on a 00 12-fret body with East Indian rosewood back and sides and an old-growth Sitka spruce top treated with its Vintage Tone System. Aging toner and visual wear matched to Parsons’ own guitar give the new model its lived-in look, and the X-bracing is scalloped Adirondack spruce, also VTS-treated.
The mahogany neck follows a profile taken from the 1963 guitar, with a V shape, a 24.9-inch scale length, a 1 7/8-inch nut and an East Indian rosewood fingerboard with period-correct Style 28 inlays. A slotted headstock, standard belly bridge and faux tortoise binding keep the period details intact, and each guitar has an embossed, sequentially numbered paper label with a pre-printed Parsons signature.
Martin unveiled the guitar at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on launch day, during an evening with Chris Martin IV and clinician Craig Thatcher. It’s on sale now through authorised Martin dealers.
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