How It's Made: Martin Guitar Museum and Factory Tours

Martin Guitar Factory - Museum & Visitor's Center

Martin Guitar Factory - 510 Sycamore St. Nazareth, PA 18064
One of my favorite tours of all time are my visits to the Martin Guitar Factory, Museum and Visitor's Center in Nazareth, PA. In fact, I've taken many friends and family along as it is such a fascinating place to see how these uniquely American guitars are handcrafted into the iconic instruments they are. 

D-28 Marquis. Martin Guitar Museum & Visitor's Center

One of the most fun things to see is how select pieces of precious wood become guitars. There are a lot of steps and the guitar is passed along to a succession of crafts people along the way. What I noticed is that each technician exhibited a great deal of pride in their contribution to the creation of each instrument.  Did you know that there are over 300 steps involved in the making of ONE guitar?

Humidity to Go

The Air O Swiss Portable Ultrasonic Humidifier is travel-ready!

Acoustics are more prone to drying out!

If you depend on your guitar and voice at least in part to make a living, you really need to protect your investments.  Winter dryness can wreak havoc with your acoustic guitar's structure and ability to stay in tune.  Really the same holds true for your voice!  Traveling poses a real threat to both because you have no control over the airplane cabin or hotel room's humidity levels.  Airplanes are notoriously dry so there's not much you can do about that but once you arrive at your destination, there is a workable solution to rehydrate yourself AND your instruments.

Air O Swiss makes a full range of ultrasonic humidifiers for the home and studio with some vocalists having one in each room to maintain optimal humidity levels, (between 45-55%).  Once you leave that comfortably controlled environment, well, you're on your own!
Air O Swiss has an answer for that too.  The AOS 7146 Travel Ultrasonic Humidifier offers a super lightweight, portable unit that gives you humidity output of 1 gallon a day using a simple plastic water bottle!  The no-leak adapter and balancing feet make it tip proof and stable plus it's quiet in operation.

The Air O Swiss 7146 Travel Ultrasonic Humidifier

This portable humidifier can be placed on your night stand or dresser for a great night's sleep.  The cool microfine mist immediately evaporates and if you are using bottled water you'll enjoy pure, fresh air as well.  Place your guitar on its stand and it will naturally absorb the moisture from the room humidifier. Both you AND your guitar can sleep well!  I've found my acoustic guitars staying in tune longer when they are kept properly humidified.  I also have less sinus and vocal issues in the morning after sleeping with an ultrasonic humidifier.  Now you don't have to leave behind all the comforts of home.  Take clean, moist air with you everywhere you go, even on tour.



Look in our banner ad section for more tips on Guitar Humidification including a video with Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars!   Also check out Levy's Leathers Touring Bag for your mics and cables.

FREE Guitar Lessons to Kick Off 2011!

If you are an adult and would like to finally have the chance to take guitar lessons, we have GREAT NEWS! Monmouth County Library, 125 Symmes Drive, Manalapan, NJ is offering FREE beginner classes for adults starting in February 2011! These classes have been offered at other branches in 2010 but they are now coming to the Library Headquarters!

Students must be available to attend all 4 sessions which will be held on Wednesdays - February 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd 2011. You also have your choice of two time slots:

The first class is 6 pm to 7 pm and the second is 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Your instructor is Justin Miller. This four-part workshop will teach you a lot of the basics: guitar tuning, restringing, tuning keys and note structure. Students are requested to bring in a song that they would like to learn to play. This workshop is for the TRUE beginner with no formal guitar instruction. Bring an acoustic or electric guitar as either can be accommodated in the practice room.
Registration is limited and ends on Friday, January 28th, 2011. Please call the Reference Desk to register: 732-431-7222. If you've ever wanted to have real guitar lessons but just couldn't, 2011 is YOUR year! I can't tell you how much joy playing an instrument has brought me. It can do the same for you so come on, sign up! You can also see what other FREE programs, activities and concerts the Monmouth County Library branches have to offer by checking out the: MCL Online Events Schedule.

Want some more FREE guitar stuff from Planet Waves & C.F. Martin Guitar? Don't forget to enter Eclectic Sound's UPDATED 2010 Holiday Guitar Gear Give-Away! Deadline for entry is MIDNIGHT December 14th 2010 so hurry!

Need to brush up on your guitar playing skills? Hal Leonard publishes music and instruction books for every level of player. Check out some of their excellent titles and be the star of your holiday celebrations!

Planet Waves NEW Capo Tuner & O-Port - Hercules Stands

Dr. M hits the road in her 64' Mercury Caliente with more cool NEW stuff for your acoustic guitar! Check out what's in the back seat from: C.F. Martin Guitar, Planet Waves, Hercules Stands & V-Picks !

Tonerite Working on a HD-28

Opening our series of NEW summer guitar gear videos is our on location shoot at Thompson Mansion! In this intro, see how easy it is to use the Tonerite on your guitar and what you can expect plus peep the new Hercules GS415B Guitar Stand and V-Picks. More to come!


PLUS Check out Striking Back's latest release, The Restless EP