A rare Martin on loan from the Martin museum is destroyed on movie set

[NEONMOONY]

I don't get all the hate for Tarantino and Russell in this. If the guitar really was so special, why would Martin loan it out in the first place. They said they had 6 copies. Martin did that to themselves. Sounds fishy.

 

[F312]

Stay in tune guy's, Hollywood is out of tune.
Ralph

 

[Westerly Wood]

I don't get all the hate for Tarantino and Russell in this. If the guitar really was so special, why would Martin loan it out in the first place. They said they had 6 copies. Martin did that to themselves. Sounds fishy.

good point, they probably were channeling that Animal House scene anyway. Can't expect them to know about vintage guitars, they are actors.

 

[adorshki]

Sorry to be in the minority here, guys. I love Tarantino's movies.

I do too, was just going for the humor of the outrageous observation.
He's definitely a bit of a nut case , but then so many geniuses are, and KILL BILL is a masterpiece with so many inside jokes it's hard to keep track of 'em all.
Anyway, when he wants realism he smashes real cars, he hates CGI. That's what I was gettin' at.
But I doubt he let that Martin get smashed on purpose, I think he'd love the instrument too much for its cool factor.

 

[Westerly Wood]

Here is the smash scene: https://youtu.be/5SSFASO1XvY

 

[jcwu]

"If it's supposed to have taken place 150 years ago (right after civil war), then the guitar would look like brand new, wouldn't it? Why use a 150 year old guitar 150 years ago?"

Top comment on YouTube.

 

[sailingshoes72]

The 1870's... that's only ten years after the Civil War. Think of all the history that instrument could bear witness to, and all the wonderful songs that were played on it. In fact, Mark Twain owned and played an 1835 Martin 2 1/2-17 that he bought used in 1861. (So there was even a "vintage market" back in the 1860's.)

Here is a link to some quality photos of a similar NYC Martin guitar.

http://www.vintageamericanguitar.com/1850_Martin_3-17.html

Images at bottom of page.

Bill

 

[Westerly Wood]

I firmly believe Russell had no clue, no idea it was not one of the 6 props.

 

[walrus]

And how no one could have told him is beyond me. Unless, as Kurt already said, QT kept quiet to get the reaction from Leigh that he got. That's pretty messed up if so.

walrus

 

[davismanLV]

I do have to agree with putting a huge amount of blame on Martin. Having worked in a Property Dept. when I was way younger, that stuff they use gets TRASHED. I spent a whole day gluing chairs back together that got smashed. I said, "They can use these again?" The guy I was working for said, "Oh hell, yeah! On camera that's gonna look just fine. It doesn't matter." So, that Martin was letting a rare and valuable guitar go to Hollywood (or wherever) to be used in a movie with ridiculous minimal replacement coverage on it..... shame on them.

 

[adorshki]

And how no one could have told him is beyond me. Unless, as Kurt already said, QT kept quiet to get the reaction from Leigh that he got. That's pretty messed up if so.
walrus

Kurt said that? I missed that.
Still hard to believe, especially when you consider their collaboration on Death Proof.
Of course, in that one, there's a couple of scenes where it wouldn't surprise me if Kurt himself was "cold-cocked" or else he's a way better actor than I ever knew...and if so you'd think he'd be twice as wary of any QT's shenanigans... I say this with appropriately cynical humor.
Oh wait, I think I get it now, you meant our Kurt, not Kurt Russell?

 

[Opsimath]

I'm not going to claim to know anything about anything, but is it possible that Martin loaned the guitar so that copies could be made? Remember when Grot's guitars were loaned out when Guild was getting the American factory going again? Maybe they had no clue that the genuine guitar was going to be put on set in a scene. Maybe the director did it intentionally for the "effect". I watched the video of the scene, and in all honesty I don't think the actress' reaction was believable for the scene that was supposed to be happening. It was believable for her knowing an irreplaceable guitar was just smashed, but she is obviously looking around the set when she realizes what is going on. I cannot imagine looking anywhere other than where my prized guitar lies in splinters. I would definitely not be looking about the room yelling, "whoa". But that is just my opinion and worth every penny you have paid for it.

Side note, I did not know until reading the reports that this director did Pulp Fiction. I rented it back when people were raving over it. I couldn't get past the first 10 or 15 minutes. The language was disgusting and the subject matter deplorable. I was not going to sit through another tortuous moment to get to whatever the good part was that had people so excited. Decidedly not my definition of entertainment. If I missed a "really great movie" so be it. I have managed just fine in the meantime.

So, who is at fault in the guitar smashing incident? We will likely never really know. There is probably plenty of blame and finger pointing to go around but none of it will undo what has been done to that guitar. My opinion, based on not knowing anything about anything, is the director was in on it because his movie budget is so huge that smashing an historical instrument can surely be appropriately compensated without even a blink of an eye, and he gets a "genuine" reaction along with a lot of free publicity. Pretty low in my opinion, but what do I know?

 

[walrus]

Al, yes, our Kurt!

walrus