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“Now he’s traded off his Martin
But his troubles are not over
For his feet are almost frozen
And the sun is sinkin’ low.”
- 10 Degrees and Getting Colder: Gordon Lightfoot
I don’t think I knew what a Martin guitar was when I first heard that song. It didn’t occur to me at the time that Gordon Lightfoot played anything but a Gibson 12-string. And when I learned what a Martin was I shuddered to think that this poor musician had to sell off his beautiful guitar to eat. But that’s been the story of musicians for centuries. (Mozart sold of his clothes and wigs.)
In July, 2000, The Martin Guitar Company brought out a Limited Edition Signature model, the D-18GL to commemorated the music of Gordon Lightfoot. The production, of course, was put at 61 to match Lightfoot’s age at the time. In good Yuppie fashion the 61 were snapped up before they were built because few musicians could afford the price tag.
But that’s the way it’s always been with musicians. We bought good equipment but we had to use it every night and that caused wear and tear.
I remember when every penny went into buying equipment and getting us from Club A to Club B 3oo -900 miles away. I had great guitars but they were well- used. I retired my Ovation, Gibson and Yamaki 12 strings after I had them refinished. Purists derided me for this action saying that they were not worth much refinished.
However, I pointed out that purists were not working musicians. They collected “stuff” and their Gibson or Martin guitar had never been used to play 6 nights a week in smokey bars, getting banged around in the process. Many of these guys were “posers,” professional people who got up and played in coffee houses with their $5,000 instruments. They never had to get a spruce top braced because the years of playing had caused the bridge to separate from the top.
The fact that Gordon Lightfoot was honored in this way is great. My love for the man’s music is immeasurable. In many ways his music was part of the soundtrack of my life for a few years. So, if one of these guitars passes my way I just may try to get it – if it’s smaller than my mortgage.
Here are the specs:
D-size body of quilted mahogany & Engelmann spruce, vintage toner on top, scalloped braces with forward-shifted X, abalone rosette, tortoise binding & pickguard, low profile neck, bone nut (1 11/16″) & saddle, black ebony fretboard with abalone dots, a reflecting silhouette of the Edmond Fitzgerald at the 12th fret & Lightfoot’s signature in pearl around the 19th fret, squared tapered peghead with old-style decal, Kluson style gears with nickel buttons, ebony bridgepins with abalone dots. Inside label numbered & signed by Lightfoot and C.F.Martin IV.
Because I like to collect “stuff” too!
Stumble it!
Edward Bear took the name from the first lines of A. A. Milne’s book Winnie-the-Pooh. They were a Toronto band that began playing birthdays and high schools before graduating to hotels and bars. But it was as the house band at the Night Owl coffee house in Toronto’s Yorkville section that they first got noticed.
I saw Davey Johnstone with Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour in September 1973. He was hard to miss. With long blonde hair he had an aura of invincibility as he walked his part of the stage, his guitar complementing everything Elton John sang or played until he was called on to pound out a solo of his own.