The Custom K-1 Major Kealakai | Martin Guitars

Chris Martin introduces a historically significant guitar that served as a bridge in developing the dreadnought.

Although the Martin Guitar company is known for mostly keeping meticulous records over the years, there are occasional gaps in how much is known about its history. For example, relatively recent findings make it likely that a custom guitar made for Hawaiian musician Major Kealakai in 1916 was the largest guitar that Martin had made up to that point, in effect serving as a bridge to the Ditson dreadnought that would come a short time later. In this video, Chris Martin IV talks about how he learned of this special one-off guitar, and the current series of Custom K-1 Major Kealakai editions that it inspired.

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