Revolution Rock

Martin’s vice president of product management, Fred Greene, explains some of the concepts and rationale behind the SC-13E, and admits that one aim of the design was to “upset the old guard”

- Dave Burrluck

It’s telling that the early videos made by Martin to support the launch of the SC-13E feature very electric guitar-style soundtracks. There are no delicate droptuned fingerstyle dabblings to accompany the images. It’s all a little unnerving, a perception that’s not helped in that no sooner do we catch up with Fred Greene than we’re discussing our mutual love of Joe Strummer and The Clash. What on earth is going on?

“I’m sitting here with my Telecaster,” explains Fred. “I have a Telecaster because of Joe Strummer. I always like that it feels good, stood up around my neck. I wanted an acoustic guitar that felt that way: not too big, not too heavy,” he explains getting back on topic. “Certain guitars when you stand up and play can either make you look better or look worse. It’s very hard to look cool playing a Steinberger, isn’t it? It might play great, but… On the other hand, some guitars make everyone look cool. So we tried to make a guitar that when you stand up makes you look cool. It didn’t look strange or weird, but it didn’t look overly traditional. But then it has to balance in the right place on your knee, so, again, a lot of thought went into that.”

It’s pretty obvious that “a lot of thought” went into this entire project, but it did start with that shape. “It was an outline I sort of had been doodling. I’m a notorious doodler during meetings and while you often just turn the page, this one kept coming up again and again. There was a feeling of wanting that offset look on an acoustic guitar. How would that work for Martin? You know, that sort of Jazzmaster, Jaguar vibe. It just felt quite organic and easy to draw.