Open Letter to C.F. Martin Guitar

I have made it a policy to thank and acknowledge folks who have inspired me and my designs through the years. It is not only a professional courtesy but also an ethical obligation.

But sometimes there are debts so large that they paradoxically can go unnoticed. So I would like to go on record (long overdue) to thank Chris Martin IV and C.F. Martin guitar for inventing the acoustic guitar world as we know it. Not only has Martin pioneered the defining elements of the modern steel-string (such as the amazing X-brace and a million other features that we shouldn’t but do take for granted) but it has also set the “customer service” bar incredibly high for all the rest of the guitar building community. In modern luthierie, it is somewhat in vogue to experiment with different and radical bracing patterns and concepts. But when I was working at Northrop’s Aeroscience Lab, the astoundingly brilliant British structural engineer, Brain Hallam, explained to me that to stiffen any plate or skin, whether it is an F-18 fighter jet panel or a guitar soundboard, the X-brace is the most efficient and elegant way to do it. C.F. Martin figured this out long before there was “finite element analysis”, CAD computer design and the myriad other hi-tech tools the modern engineer has at his fingertips. This is genius of a high caliber.

So that is why there is a Martin-style X-brace on every guitar I build. I have never looked back. 

And Chris Martin and Dick Boak (without whom Martin Guitar would cease to exist in the known universe) themselves have been unflagging patrons of this second Golden Age of guitars. Chris Martin’s forebears at Martin Guitar single-handedly created the first Golden Age and now Chris and Dick have been champions of the second. Every steel-string luthier in the world today owes a debt of gratitude to this wonderful company and these two men. Chris and Dick have (sometimes behind the scenes and sometimes on the front lines) encouraged and supported the small community of us solo and boutique luthiers making our way. Not only do they continue to make Martin guitars better and better, they also help us to make our own instruments better, too, through their support of organizations like the Association of Stringed-Instrument Artisans.

And I personally want to thank Dick and Tim Teel. Tim is Martin’s Director of Instrument Design and has been a great friend through the years. Dick Boak has become a very dear friend and an incredibly encouraging presence in my career and life. I can still remember being somewhat in awe of Dick when I first met him. He is legendary in the luthier world.

My deepest respect and gratitude goes out to this fabulous and generous company and this trio of men who define it. They also exhibit what is best about America, American genius and Yankee know-how. And what is best about that Wonder that is the modern American, steel-string flat-top. Thanks to you three for the making the guitar-making journey such a pleasant one.

Kevin Ryan
Kevin Ryan Guitars
Westminster, California

November, 2010