A Martin Lost & Found

It’s every picker’s nightmare scenario: having a treasured instrument stolen. That happened to me back in 1972. My basement-level Chicago apartment was broken into while I was away from home, and when I returned, I immediately discovered that my 1947 Martin D-18 guitar was missing (along with some valued audio equipment). I called the police, but they never showed up, and since I didn’t know the guitar’s full serial number—I remembered only that it began with 100—there wasn’t much to report anyway. I had purchased that Martin from a San Francisco music shop in 1964, paying about $300 for it. At the time, I was a finger-picking “folkie” who hadn’t yet been exposed to any bluegrass, but a friend had solemnly advised me that Martins were the only guitars worth owning, and I took him at his word. When I moved to North Carolina in 1965, the guitar went with me, of course, and I was introduced to bluegrass soon thereafter. But it eventually became clear that the