In 1970 Martin created the Sigma brand to manufacture instruments in Asia Pacific. Martin had no electric offering in the product line in the 1970’s, a boom time for the electric market. 

By 1973, Martin had specified a series of solid electric guitars to complement the Sigma acoustic line.  These are notable as they were the first solid body electric guitars sold by Martin (or a Martin owned company), all previous electrics having been archtops or thinlines.  

These instruments were made by the highly respected Tokai in Japan, and were the only four models made in the period. They were only offered in the colors shown in the galleries here. However, these instruments were not created exclusively for Martin by Tokai, and virtually identical instruments were marketed by Ampeg as their ‘Stud’ line. It is not clear whether the Ampeg models predate the Sigma models or vice versa, but it is likely each were badge engineered versions of Tokai designs. The Sigma and Ampeg version differ only in headstock shape and logo, although interestingly the Ampeg range had more instruments in it than Sigma’s. 

The four models were the SG-style cherry SBG2-6 and natural SBG2-9, the Telecaster like cherry SBF2-6, and the vaguely Telecaster bass like natural finish SBB2-8. These all had bolt on necks and 3 per side tuners, with Grover imperials on the high end SBG2-9. (The Ampeg equivalents were SBG2-6=Stud GE-100, SBG2-9=Super Stud GE500, SBF2-6=Heavy Stud GEHT50, and SBB2-8=Big Stud GEB-750) 

These were extremely high quality instruments and relatively few were made and sold. Sadly, none of the factory records still exist and the instruments lacked serial numbers, so production totals are unavailable, but it would not be unreasonable to assume that only 150-250 of each model were produced given their short production run and relative scarcity. 

Martin’s sales pitch – and it was a good one – in the advertising of the period was that the guitars were all inspected at the Martin factory in Nazareth PA before being sold in the US. The intent here was to offset the fear of potential quality issues in far eastern manufacture that still existed in the 70’s. However good an idea this was, the model range didn’t survive after 1974 and Martin itself would not dally with solid electric guitars again until the EM-18 in 1978, although electrics in the Goya line (also owned by Martin through it’s acquisition of Levin in 1974, although not marketed as ‘inspected by Martin in the USA’) produced Japanese solid electrics until at least 1977 (More to come on the Japanese Martin Goyas in later posts)

The Marshall collection has one example of each model as a key part of the Martin electric story, shown in the gallery here. 

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It’s a good question.

I acquired my first Martin electric guitar in the early 1990’s while I was living abroad, an EM-18 (see more in the E series sections of these pages). I’d never heard of Martin electrics before, although I’d owned a D-18 acoustic for many years, and I trusted the source, he’d sold me some fine guitars in the past.

When the guitar arrived, I was really impressed.  It was so unlike the Gibsons and Fenders that I owned that I used it as my main electric instrument for quite a few years, and it never failed to draw comments from anyone who saw it. Of course this was at the beginning of the web, so finding any information was hard (and dial up), and I moved to England in 1997 for a few years. It came with me of course, and got played, but it was still just one guitar in a growing collection.

In late 2000 several things happened; I moved to eastern Pennsylvania, about 40 miles outside Philly, the web started getting richer in content, eBay and broadband connections were mature technologies. Several of my co-workers were guitarists and bought EM-18’s after seeing mine. Their reasoning was simple; where else could you buy such an interesting historical instrument 20+ years old, of such high quality from a respected US manufacturer at a reasonable price?

It was at this point, I think around 2003 the project really took shape – originally as a book on affordable collectibles. After a lot of research, the story in these pages unfolded. Over the next seven years I acquired all the instruments you see shown here, and previously unpublished and unknown information on the Martin electrics.

The starting point of the collection is the F series.  Although Martin produced some flat top acoustics with magnetic pickups in the late 50’s (the D-18E, D-28E and OO-18E), I chose my starting point as ‘purpose built’ electrics, hence the F series. The end point of my collection and these pages is the end of the E-28 series in 1983, as I chose my end point as the demise of US and Japanese manufacturing operations. The instruments in the F, GT, E-18, E-28 US series and the Martin-Sigma and Martin-Goya Japanese series were all very small production runs and they are very collectible and for now, at least, affordable as interesting and high quality instruments.

Many sources contributed to this story. Martin allowed me access to their records, and Dick Boak of Martin (the creator of the E-18’s) and John Marshall of Martin (the creator of the E-28’s) were incredibly helpful and patient while I was researching these instruments. Several published works referenced parts of the story, including Mike Longworth’s invaluable reference work – however most of the story came from actually going out and buying an example of each of these instruments and looking at them. I believe this is the only account of the Martin electrics where all the main instruments of each series are actually owned by the author.

Over time, the intent is to publish all the information I’ve collected and amassed on these pages to serve as the definitive reference to these hidden gems. If you’d like to ask any specific questions, please feel free to post them as comments, or email me. If you own any of these instruments, send me their serial numbers for my database!

Andrew

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The Martin E-18 Series

Martin EM-18

Martin’s E series electrics were produced in two broad series, the 18 series (E-18, EM-18 and EB-18 bass) and the 28 series (E-28 and EB-28 bass). All the Martin labeled instruments were made in the USA.

The E series guitars have interesting stories, made more vivid by the fact that the key people involved in their design and production helped me immensely when I was researching the history. The various books and articles previously available vary in their accuracy, and it has taken quite a lot of detective work to build what I believe to be a complete and accurate picture. My thanks to Dick Boak, John Marshall, Pete Entstasser and of course CF Martin and Co, my history would be a lot less interesting without their enormous contribution, not least of course that they made all these instruments in the first place.

Starting with the 18 series, we’ll look at the instruments and the production facts.

The 18 series was Martin’s first solid electric guitar, and was designed by Dick Boak. Unusually, a new 4-digit serial number was used for the 18 and 28 series instruments, starting at 1000. The first production instrument shipped was an EM-18, serial number 1004, in December of 1978. The last was 3645, an EB-18 at some point during 1980. A total of 341 E-18’s, 1,375 EM-18’s and 874 EB-18’s were  manufactured, a total of 2,590 instruments. Of course if the first were 1004 and the last 3645, that should be 2,642, so we should probably assume a numbering skip or some instruments rejected in QA, or a combination thereof.

Many people believe (because many books are unclear about this) that the 18 and 28 series were manufactured concurrently, this is not the case. The last 18 series was made before the first 28 series went to production – however because there was some inventory 18 series instruments were sold into the 1980’s by distributors.

The 18 series comprised three models: two six strings (E-18 and EM-18) and the EB-18 bass. The E-18 and EM-18 were virtually identical, with some minor electronics changes. The EB-18 was Martin’s first production electric bass as well as it’s first solid electric bass. Despite appearances, these instruments are not neck-through but set neck.

Myths and Legends

1. Two higher specification 18 series basses were produced, designated the EMB-18. I have no idea if this is true or not, I have only seen it referenced once. If anyone knows more – let me know!

2. The 18 series was produced 1979-83. Not true – Dec 78 to Late 1980/Early 1981.

3. The hard case was actually a modified gun case. True.

(To be continued)

The Martin E-18 models made in the USA:

Sigma E-18

The various non-USA made derivates:

The Martin E-28 Series

Martin E-28

Some additional E-28 information (courtesy of John Marshall) CF Martin original typescript E-28 series marketing

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