Some History and Some Current Events

This is a pretty interesting article about the Martin D-45, specifically pre-war D-45's. There's also some commentary about the D-28 of the same period. http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/20677-pre-war-perfection-the-martin-d-45?page=1

And this is about some misbehaving little boys in Texas building counterfeit Martins and ripping off the good citizens of the pawn shop world, http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/nazareth/index.ssf/2014/04/cf_martin_and_co_counterfeitin.html

Martin uses a 'botanical' mark that, through DNA testing, can be used to identify counterfeit guitars. Guess it's only worthwhile after the crime has been committed...

Awesome article thanks for posting John!

More details on the Martin counterfeiting ring. Turns out it was "a small-time Rock band" trying to finance a national tour by selling the fakes. http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bayarea/crime-courts/article/Feds-Members-of-Texas-rock-band-financed-tour-5395853.php Further details with pics of the band posing with a pawn shop salesman here, http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/Alt-rock_band_sentenced_for_targeting_pawn_shops_with_fake_Martin_high-end_guitars.html

Before I moved to western Montana I called Texas home for more than a third of a century. In the area I lived, outlaw music was pretty popular and I admit to a taste for it myself. But this is a little outside the genre... :D