Darryl Hattenhauer
Venerated Member
I was told yesterday that older vintage guitars originally had bone nuts, saddles, and bridge pins before plastic came along. Does anybody know when Martin and Gibson etc. went to plastic?
Older guitars had bone before plastic
- Thread starter Darryl Hattenhauer
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Frosty
Senior Member
"older vintage"... just as an aside... it amazes me when I see guitars made in 1980 advertised as "vintage. 1980? Geez! But... to the question...
Some brilliant minds at Gibson began using plastic bridges in the early 1960s. This, to me is a "newer vintage guitar". The guitars from the 40s and 30s were made of wood. During wartime, say 1943, a Martin 000 had wooden truss rod, wooden nut and to even further preserve metal for the war effort, no metal bushing around the tuners.
Yours in obfuscation,
Frosty
Some brilliant minds at Gibson began using plastic bridges in the early 1960s. This, to me is a "newer vintage guitar". The guitars from the 40s and 30s were made of wood. During wartime, say 1943, a Martin 000 had wooden truss rod, wooden nut and to even further preserve metal for the war effort, no metal bushing around the tuners.
Yours in obfuscation,
Frosty
Darryl Hattenhauer
Venerated Member
Frosty,
What did Martin make nuts out of before and after they used wood?
hf
What did Martin make nuts out of before and after they used wood?
hf
fronobulax
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Frosty said:
Matter of perspective. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, an automobile can be registered as an antique if it is 25 years old. As a one time retailer of antiques, 50 years usually made something antique but just like "organic" and "natural" there are no agreed upon definitions of the words.
Personally "vintage" suggests things like no longer in production, has not been in production for "a while" and "older than the seller" :wink: so I can understand a vintage instrument made in 1980 even thought I might not describe it as such.
Back to the topic, how are we defining "plastic"? Are we talking about Bakelite, Celluloid and the like or more recent formulations?
Darryl Hattenhauer
Venerated Member
Frono,
Good question. My definition of plastic is Neil Diamond.
But seriously, I don't know when plastic was invented, or what is included and excluded by that term. But I was surprised to hear that using bone for saddles, nuts, and bridge pins isn't something that came along recently as an alternative to plastic, and that bone actually preceded plastic.
hf
Good question. My definition of plastic is Neil Diamond.
But seriously, I don't know when plastic was invented, or what is included and excluded by that term. But I was surprised to hear that using bone for saddles, nuts, and bridge pins isn't something that came along recently as an alternative to plastic, and that bone actually preceded plastic.
hf
fronobulax
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Plastic.
I don't have exact dates and in true geezer fashion I am relying on memory but I seem to think that the man-made substance we call "plastic" (or it's direct ancestor) dates back to 1930 or so. You need a serious petrochemical industry.
Any guitar before then almost certainly used something else of which bone, wood or machined metal would be the obvious choices. I imagine some one tried plastic because it was "new" and eventually plastic became the norm because it was cheaper to make and easier to make.
I don't have exact dates and in true geezer fashion I am relying on memory but I seem to think that the man-made substance we call "plastic" (or it's direct ancestor) dates back to 1930 or so. You need a serious petrochemical industry.
Any guitar before then almost certainly used something else of which bone, wood or machined metal would be the obvious choices. I imagine some one tried plastic because it was "new" and eventually plastic became the norm because it was cheaper to make and easier to make.