C.F. Martin 12 String Guitars
1932 Martin C-2-12
Stamped February 18, 1932
Shop Order #206
Serial #50223
Martin produced four archtop 12 string guitars in the 1930's. This is Martin's first 12 string archtop guitar.
This guitar was owned by Mark O'Connor and used to record his CD "False Dawn".
Martin's earliest guitars with 12 strings were actually two 1913 standard six string 000-18 guitars that were later rebuilt as 12 strings.
The first to be converted was #11610, which was shipped on June 26, 1915, followed by #16605, shipped on March 20, 1923.
The first guitar to actually be built for 12 strings was a 00-21 #16098, shipped on March 30, 1921.
The next was in 1929, an 0-17, specified with 000 braces and a wide bridge plate for extra strength.
The C-2S, the first 12 string archtop was shipped on February 18, 1932.
A 00-28S and the second archop 12 string, an R-18S were shipped in 1936.
A 000-28S 12 string was shipped in 1937.
Another 000-28S 12 string was shipped in 1938.
In 1940, another 000-28S was shipped to Coast Wholesale.
It appears that this was actually a guitar that started life as a 000-18H Hawaiian guitar for Grinnell Bros. in September, 1938.
A 000-28S was stamped on February 21, 1940, followed by a 00-17S. This shop order spells out the tuning of the three high strings in unison, and the three low strings in octaves.
A 000-18S was shipped on September 5, 1941, followed by a final pre-war 12 string, an archtop F-1S on June 20, 1941
Martin would not build another 12 string guitar until the D-12-20 prototype in 1964.
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