Scratch
Enlightened Member
I know how many of us feel about Martin. My acoustic git of choice is and will most likely always be, Guild; but I've owned several Martins and still own one. Martin is a class act when it comes to taking care of employees. This is an excerpt from a recent 'Acoustic Guitar' online magazine article, and recent NBC release. It speaks well of a company, around since 1833, that cares about people who care about guitars. Fender should take a lesson from these guys...
By Mike Taibbi, NBC News correspondent
Funny how memory works. You can think about something that's familiar to you, research the subject in the ways encouraged by Google, and begin the work of reporting on that same subject because, after all, that's your job, and then in a moment, a millisecond, something internal kicks in and it's no longer about information, it's about how you felt in your bones and your heart when that subject first became familiar to you.
That's what happened during the process of reporting on the fortunes of family-owned CF Martin and Company in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. They make Martin guitars, the standard in the industry for, oh, around 175 years. From Dylan and Clapton, to Elvis and Johnny Cash. Threesomes like the Kingston Trio and Peter Paul & Mary. Duos like Simon and Garfunkel...you get the idea.
Nightly News producer Bob Adschiew had pitched the story to me and I'd said “sure.” His take was that family owned businesses, which make up 90 per cent of the businesses in America and employ 60% of all workers, had unique challenges and opportunities in the tanking economy. With the economy cratering last fall, Martin, like other businesses, considered all the options while some stopgap measures – a freeze on hiring and overtime, for example – were put in place. But because of the unique nature of the business, not just ownership but employees handing down their love of the craft from generation to generation, the current boss, CF Martin IV, refused to resort to layoffs or even a temporary plant shutdown. They'd continue to make guitars...by hand. Each instrument went through 60 work stations and over 300 individual processes, all visible to anyone from the public who wanted to see how it's done.
We did, and it was fascinating of course. But it was the company's solution to the economic crisis, the same solution employed by CF's great-grandfather during the Great Depression, that triggered my memories in that special way. The solution – with the average guitar costing $2-3,000 and a few special works of art going for as much as $100,000, not the kind of numbers that'll deliver you from a recession, especially when your product is the quintessential discretionary expense – Martin decided to make a cheap guitar. Cheap by comparison, hundreds, not thousands of dollars. No inlays, or fancy finishes, just good solid construction out of those same find wood.
VIDEO:Family guitar business keeps finances in tune
Walking through the part of the plant where the new line was being produced, as painstakingly as ever, it happened for me. I remembered my first guitar, in college, and could hear the songs I'd played (not all that expertly, I should say) as I sang my son to sleep many nights. I'd had a Puerto Rican friend then who'd taught me some Spanish guitar, Maleguena and some of the riffs Jose Feliciano was then popularizing, and the rest of what I played was that odd simplistic mix of familiar favorites – House of the Rising Sun, Girl from Ipanema, Puff the Magic Dragon, a few dozen others. As a kid I'd played classical piano but was never a natural musician, it was always hard work, mastering a score and playing it well enough to allow others to listen. But the guitar, while difficult, was all about pleasure, playing the instrument, seeing its effect on my toddler son.
So of course, before I left the CF Martin factory floor, I bought one of their Series 1 guitars.
How could I not? Even as it was being tuned and inspected for a final time and placed in its case, I could hear all those songs and longed to play them again, I could see my son's face and the color of his bedroom walls.
And for those moments I wasn't a reporter on a story, but simply someone who remembered something special and who had a chance to revisit that memory again.
Video: The guitar by which all others are measured
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Comments
Wow! What a great story! It would have been so easy to just lay off workers, but the Martin's had the guts to try something different and save jobs. Bravo!
Patty from Pasadena (Sent Wednesday, October 14, 2009 6:44 PM)
Martin makes wonderful guitars. The craftmanship is the same on a 15 series as on a 45 series instrument with the difference in cost being the embellishments. I know because I own 3 Martins!
Bob Daniel (Sent Wednesday, October 14, 2009 7:12 PM)
That is my cousin c.f. martin the fourth I think the story is true he treats his workers like one of the family !
Mark Keglovitz Yarmouthport ma (Sent Wednesday, October 14, 2009 7:14 PM)
I watched the story with interest as my granddaughter just received a guitar for her birthday. What a disappointment when you mentioned all the famous people who used the guitar and NOT ONE was a woman!! What about Joan Baez, Melissa Etheridge, k.d.lang, the Dixie Chicks among others? Did none of them use a C.F. Martin guitar? Or is your male bias showing?
Claudia Jimenez, Goleta, California (Sent Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:05 PM)
I think that what the C. F .Martin Guitar company is doing is what the rest of the country should do. Do not compromise quality or your reputation just to stay in business. Keep your core values and the people will keep buying from you. I know, I am the proud owner of a Martin Guitar.
Mike Taylor, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA (Sent Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:19 PM)
"And for those moments I wasn't a reporter on a story, but simply someone who remembered something special and who had a chance to revisit that memory again." And THAT is what we are all about!!
CFM Employee - 20 years! (Sent Thursday, October 15, 2009 10:57 AM)
It's nice to see a business thinking about more than the bottom line. Those are great guitars, too. (D-35 1973)
CO, Columbus, OH (Sent Thursday, October 15, 2009 1:25 PM)
This is the kind of business principle that keeps a company in business for 175+ years - long term thinking and TWO WAY loyalty... not just this disgusting quarter to quarter filth that is practiced now just to get the upper crust their much-beloved bonuses at the expense of families and lives. Way to to CFM, I own 2 and will always support Martin guitars!
Adam Yavner, Dallas, TX (Sent Wednesday, October 21, 2009 1:55 PM)
By Mike Taibbi, NBC News correspondent
Funny how memory works. You can think about something that's familiar to you, research the subject in the ways encouraged by Google, and begin the work of reporting on that same subject because, after all, that's your job, and then in a moment, a millisecond, something internal kicks in and it's no longer about information, it's about how you felt in your bones and your heart when that subject first became familiar to you.
That's what happened during the process of reporting on the fortunes of family-owned CF Martin and Company in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. They make Martin guitars, the standard in the industry for, oh, around 175 years. From Dylan and Clapton, to Elvis and Johnny Cash. Threesomes like the Kingston Trio and Peter Paul & Mary. Duos like Simon and Garfunkel...you get the idea.
Nightly News producer Bob Adschiew had pitched the story to me and I'd said “sure.” His take was that family owned businesses, which make up 90 per cent of the businesses in America and employ 60% of all workers, had unique challenges and opportunities in the tanking economy. With the economy cratering last fall, Martin, like other businesses, considered all the options while some stopgap measures – a freeze on hiring and overtime, for example – were put in place. But because of the unique nature of the business, not just ownership but employees handing down their love of the craft from generation to generation, the current boss, CF Martin IV, refused to resort to layoffs or even a temporary plant shutdown. They'd continue to make guitars...by hand. Each instrument went through 60 work stations and over 300 individual processes, all visible to anyone from the public who wanted to see how it's done.
We did, and it was fascinating of course. But it was the company's solution to the economic crisis, the same solution employed by CF's great-grandfather during the Great Depression, that triggered my memories in that special way. The solution – with the average guitar costing $2-3,000 and a few special works of art going for as much as $100,000, not the kind of numbers that'll deliver you from a recession, especially when your product is the quintessential discretionary expense – Martin decided to make a cheap guitar. Cheap by comparison, hundreds, not thousands of dollars. No inlays, or fancy finishes, just good solid construction out of those same find wood.
VIDEO:Family guitar business keeps finances in tune
Walking through the part of the plant where the new line was being produced, as painstakingly as ever, it happened for me. I remembered my first guitar, in college, and could hear the songs I'd played (not all that expertly, I should say) as I sang my son to sleep many nights. I'd had a Puerto Rican friend then who'd taught me some Spanish guitar, Maleguena and some of the riffs Jose Feliciano was then popularizing, and the rest of what I played was that odd simplistic mix of familiar favorites – House of the Rising Sun, Girl from Ipanema, Puff the Magic Dragon, a few dozen others. As a kid I'd played classical piano but was never a natural musician, it was always hard work, mastering a score and playing it well enough to allow others to listen. But the guitar, while difficult, was all about pleasure, playing the instrument, seeing its effect on my toddler son.
So of course, before I left the CF Martin factory floor, I bought one of their Series 1 guitars.
How could I not? Even as it was being tuned and inspected for a final time and placed in its case, I could hear all those songs and longed to play them again, I could see my son's face and the color of his bedroom walls.
And for those moments I wasn't a reporter on a story, but simply someone who remembered something special and who had a chance to revisit that memory again.
Video: The guitar by which all others are measured
EMAIL THIS
Comments
Wow! What a great story! It would have been so easy to just lay off workers, but the Martin's had the guts to try something different and save jobs. Bravo!
Patty from Pasadena (Sent Wednesday, October 14, 2009 6:44 PM)
Martin makes wonderful guitars. The craftmanship is the same on a 15 series as on a 45 series instrument with the difference in cost being the embellishments. I know because I own 3 Martins!
Bob Daniel (Sent Wednesday, October 14, 2009 7:12 PM)
That is my cousin c.f. martin the fourth I think the story is true he treats his workers like one of the family !
Mark Keglovitz Yarmouthport ma (Sent Wednesday, October 14, 2009 7:14 PM)
I watched the story with interest as my granddaughter just received a guitar for her birthday. What a disappointment when you mentioned all the famous people who used the guitar and NOT ONE was a woman!! What about Joan Baez, Melissa Etheridge, k.d.lang, the Dixie Chicks among others? Did none of them use a C.F. Martin guitar? Or is your male bias showing?
Claudia Jimenez, Goleta, California (Sent Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:05 PM)
I think that what the C. F .Martin Guitar company is doing is what the rest of the country should do. Do not compromise quality or your reputation just to stay in business. Keep your core values and the people will keep buying from you. I know, I am the proud owner of a Martin Guitar.
Mike Taylor, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA (Sent Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:19 PM)
"And for those moments I wasn't a reporter on a story, but simply someone who remembered something special and who had a chance to revisit that memory again." And THAT is what we are all about!!
CFM Employee - 20 years! (Sent Thursday, October 15, 2009 10:57 AM)
It's nice to see a business thinking about more than the bottom line. Those are great guitars, too. (D-35 1973)
CO, Columbus, OH (Sent Thursday, October 15, 2009 1:25 PM)
This is the kind of business principle that keeps a company in business for 175+ years - long term thinking and TWO WAY loyalty... not just this disgusting quarter to quarter filth that is practiced now just to get the upper crust their much-beloved bonuses at the expense of families and lives. Way to to CFM, I own 2 and will always support Martin guitars!
Adam Yavner, Dallas, TX (Sent Wednesday, October 21, 2009 1:55 PM)
