NAZARETH, Pa. (NewsNation) — Before the car. Before the light bulb. Nearly a century before sliced bread. C.F. Martin & Company has been building guitars in this small Pennsylvania borough since 1833 — and the family that started it never left.
The company was founded by Christian Frederick Martin Sr., a German immigrant who learned guitar building in Europe before leaving a fragmented, restless Germany in search of something better.
“He was part of an early wave of German immigrants that left Germany to come to the new world looking for freedom,” said Chris Martin, the sixth generation of his family to lead the business. “Germany back then wasn’t a country — it was a bunch of little city states, different dialects, different versions of religion. And he came here.”
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What Martin built in Nazareth became the foundation for one of the most respected instrument makers in the world. Chris Martin said the standard his ancestor set has never wavered…