martin guitars

Wonderful tour of the factory floor where you can see how hand built guitars are made.If you're a picker, there's a wall with different model Martin Guitars you can try out and play.And the museum has wonderful displays on the history of the Martin Guitar Company and various artists who have owned their products. I've been a fan of Johnny Cash since I was a child and really enjoyed the tribute they had to Johnny and his music.

One of Nazareth, Pennsylvania's tucked away secrets! What a fascinating and informative experience on learning how the infamous Martin Guitar is made. From tree to tune, this is a must see for anyone who likes or loves music! Loved hearing about the history of the company and the evolution of the guitar. Be sure to take the time to check out the on premise museum as well! A must see!!!

Two friends and I visited the Martin Guitar Factory on a Wednesday morning in early September 2014. The current factory campus is located in Nazareth, approximately 6 miles north on Route 512 from Route 22. The original factory opened in 1959 on North Street in Nazareth and functions today as a guitar-making and repair workshop. (You can visit each location separately.)Descendants of the first owner still run the company. Christian Frederick Martin IV is the current proprietor of C.F. Martin & Company, originally established in 1833. The original Mr. Martin was born to a family of German cabinet-makers, who later apprenticed a guitar builder before moving to the United States. He first settled and opened his guitar-making business in New York City, but later relocated to Nazareth.The visitor’s center is open on weekdays only from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. However, guides lead tours only from 11:00 am to 2:30 pm. Tours occur on weekdays only because that is when the craftspeople are present – if no one is working, there is nothing to observe on the tour! Tours depart approximately every 30 minutes; however, they last for 1+ hours. The maximum group size is 15 people. Tours are free of charge, and you sign up at the desk in the lobby. For a more in-depth, 2-hour tour, you can visit at 9:30 am and pay a $25 per person fee to go behind-the-scenes to see more areas of the factory and hear additional details.The property contains parking for both employees and visitors, a visitor’s center, and the factory and warehouse. The visitor’s center area contains bathrooms, open cubbies (where you can hang your coat or store your small bag), the 1833 gift shop, and a museum. The gift shop contains a selection of quality music-related items, as well as a special private room (called the “Pickin’ Parlor”) where you can play some of the guitars. You can also play some of the instruments in the sitting area on the “Play Me Wall” while you wait for your tour to begin. The museum is self-guided, and it features guitars and music memorabilia from music legends (such as Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Eric Clapton) and the Martin family. The museum displays over 200 rare instruments.To tour the factory, you must participate in a guided tour. Our tour guide, a retired former Martin Guitar Factory employee, was extremely knowledgeable about the guitar-building process, describing instrument parts and features like headstocks, dovetails, and X-braces. Our guide led us through the hand-crafted process, beginning with a rough piece of lumber and producing a finished instrument in just 300 steps! The factory loans an auditory headset to every participant to wear during the tour, which is a necessity in many places on the shop floor because you stand near and walk by noisy equipment. At the end of your tour, as a souvenir, your guide presents you with a circular piece of wood (which resembles the circular hole of a guitar from which the sound emanates) stamped with Martin Guitar information.We enjoyed our tour of the Martin Guitar Factory, and we wish that we had visited sooner since we live nearby. Although we enjoy music, we are not guitar aficionados, yet we found the tour fascinating as we learned about the artisanship involved in building these fine instruments. If you are a huge music enthusiast or a guitar player, you will love this tour!

Martin Guitar's factory tour is interesting, entertaining, and it smells good in there! This is a free tour; just show up and you can usually get on the next tour. The tour guides talk about the history of the company, the product's evolution, the musicians who have used Martin Guitars, etc. You can see the people making guitars and the tour guide does talk to some of them. The museum is fantastic too.

My Husband and I took the free tour of the factory. Our guide was extremely well informed and took his time with us, he answered all our questions. I couldn't believe how dustfree and clean it was. We enjoyed our tour of the museum also.

I love factory tours, and this is one of the best I have ever seen! For about 75 minutes our guide walked us through the production line from raw materials to finished products. He was very knowledgeable, humorous, and articulate about what the employees were doing each step of the way. Some steps are technical, some artistic, some computer driven and some hand-crafted. The result is a jewel-perfect work of art that also creates music. Martin’s employees appear to be proud of their work and many work there for an entire career. In these days of outsourcing to foreign countries it was great to see that US manufacturing is alive and well.

Visited the famousMartin Guitar Complex with my childhood friend. We both enjoy music and thought it would be nice. We were not disappointed! . The tour was free, the tour guides were very knowledgeable and friendly. Was wonderful to tour the factory and see how each piece is carefully assembled and lovingly put together to make magnificent musical instrument that will be used to entertain for many years. There is a museum and gift shop as well. Many school groups tour here, just be aware, might want to call first to make sure of tour times. Wonderful experience, will do it again.

Very nice free tour of the Martin Guitar factory to see how Martin Guitars are made. Very informative and shows how a guitar is made from start to finish.

Okay, I've owned a couple of Martin guitars so naturally I thought the factory tour was terrific, but my wife and daughter (not pickers) also enjoyed it. The tour is very thorough - you get to see all aspects of guitar construction - but not excessively long. The guides are regular Martin production employees who build the instruments so you get the inside view. Because they aren't PR staff, I'm sure they vary in ability but that's part of the charm, I think. At the end of the tour is a showroom, of course, where you can play a variety of really fine guitars, and a museum of interesting instruments from the past. Well worth the trip - and I got the t-shirt.

I found out about this by accident while reading a TripAdvisor review for another attraction - the reviewer mentioned this place. My son is a guitarist so I knew we had to check it out. We were in the area for a college tour and arrived at Martin at about 2:10. The last tour was supposed to be at 2:30 and was already full. They ran one last tour to fit us and some others in. Some workers had gone home for the day but a good amount of activity was still going on.You walk right through the factory, not behind windows or look down from above. We were just a couple feet away from hundreds of guitars in various states of manufacture. We got to see every stage of production. I learned a lot and have a much higher appreciation of the craftsmanship that goes into the production.They provide headsets so you can hear everything the tour guide provides, no matter if you are next to him or 10 feet away or in a loud area or quiet area. I wish every place I toured had them!We each got a souvenir to take home - a center cutout from the face of a guitar embossed with the Martin logo. A nice little take home. Don't miss the museum - some great historical guitars and some great celebrity ones as well.

I have owned a Martin Guitar for 40+ years and have always wanted to visit. The factory and visitors center is very well done. There is a guitar museum loaded with historical Martin Guitars. There is a store where you can buy Martin gear and an area to play one of several guitars. There is also a factory tour where one of the employees takes you on a 1 hr tour through the entire factory. You actually walk through the factory seeing the many different steps in producing a quality guitar. The workers are very skilled and appear to really enjoy working there.It was one of the best times and lived up to my expectations.Did I mention the museum and tour are free.

First time. This place is real neat. They have a museum with all the guitars they made through our the years. In the lobby their is several guitars that you can actually play. The factory tour is wonderful. Lot of craftsmenship goes into making a Martin. It's worth the drive, the tour is free.

I drove from Pittsburgh to Nazareth and it took most of the day. I stayed in New Bethlehem since it had hotels. The factory tour was a blast! I learned so much about the building of a guitar. The museum was first class too! Check this off my Bucket List.

The tour at Martin Guitar was fascinating. It not only is educational but entertaining. I learned a lot about the history of Martin guitar but also of music and some musicians. I never realized how many differect guitars are made. I was also able to play a guitar in their on site music studio.

We'd been wanting to see the Martin Guitar Factory for years. We finally had an opportunity to visit, and enjoyed both their museum and the tour of guitars in all stages of being finished. They even had a rehearsal room where guests could play and sing--we enjoyed the mini-concert of two young people exhibiting great harmony with Mom playing along.The factory also has a small gift shop, but you cannot buy guitars there. They respect their dealers and direct you to order from them. Nice people, amazing products made in the USA!