C.F. Martin's Shawn Colvin Signature Edition Guitar

C.F. Martin's Shawn Colvin Signature Edition Guitar
by Barry Rudolph

Martin guitars occupy a special place for Shawn Colvin who has always played a vintage Martin D-28. Shawn, who earned a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording, wanted her signature model to be smaller and more comfortable than a typical dreadnought. Shawn chose an M shape, also known as a 0000, a Martin guitar shape first produced in the 1970s. The M guitar produces a sound that is balanced between the treble and bass tones, making it less prone to feedback, and more adaptable in the studio. Notes play and decay quickly, without the bass overtones often associated with a dreadnought.

Shawn's M3SC, like the M36, features a three-piece back made of solid mahogany with a center section of Indian rosewood. The guitar is finished with C.F. Martin's own unique hand-polished, nitro-cellulose gloss lacquer finish. The Engelmann spruce top is finished with vintage toner and features a rosette of colorful abalone pearl. Schaller tuners with ebony buttons are used on a three-piece headstock with bone nut. This tops off a low profile shaped mahogany neck covered with an ebony fingerboard. At the bridge end of the instrument is a compensated saddle with a Fishman GoldPlus+ Natural I transducer system mounted underneath.

The fingerboard does not bear the artist's signature, rather Shawn Colvin and Chairman and CEO C. F. Martin IV personally sign the interior label of each guitar made. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of every Shawn Colvin Signature Edition guitar will benefit disaster victims in New York City. For more information, contact The Martin Guitar Company at 510 Sycamore Street, P.O. Box 329, Nazareth, PA 18064. Call them at: 610-759-2837 or Go to: www.martinguitar.com

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