C. F. Martin & Co., Inc. — Local services in Upper Nazareth Township

I made a mistake of not buying the factory tour ahead of time thinking they got plenty available. Drove 10hrs only to find out they sold out till the following week. Called them to see if anybody canceled but none did. The lady, Megan said she can take me in considering my situation. Very grateful of that. So don’t make the same mistake i did, plan ahead and buy the factory tour ticket ahead of time.

First off, the factory is inside of a residential area but it’s not hard to find. The road is small, so take into account the slow drive into the area. Plan to be there 15mins before your schedule time for the tour.

The museum and gift shop is in the factory so you can tour the museum and gift shop before or after the tour.

My tour was led by a retired employee, Sarah, who has been with the company for over 30+ years. Her grandfather worked there too till he retired. I love how generations of family continue working at the company, it shows what kind of company Martin guitar is.

The tour was about an 45mins to an hour but it flew by so quickly. In fact, the only complaint i have of the tour was that it was too “short”. There was so much to take in but we had to keep walking. The group i was with had families with them so there wasn’t much questions being asked or discussion. But if the entire group was filled with guitar heads, i can see the tour going well over an hour just doing Q&A during the tour. For $5 per person, it was a steal.

The museum was medium sized, maybe half the size of the hershey museum (if you ever been) but i think i spent more time at Martin museum than at hershey museum.

In the back of the gift shop there is a room with a few guitars you can play and purchase. There were maybe 10 guitars so it’s not intended to be a guitar shop. Not sure how they decide which model to sell at the factory and which model you have to buy from dealers

Overall it was an awesome experience. If you have family with you and they’re not interested in guitars, i think on average you can take the factory tour, go into the museum and gift shop, altogether...

If you want an informative factory floor tour with a side splitting comical twist be sure to ask for Tyler to be your tour guide.

He was a fountain of knowledge on the production of these wonderful instruments. Though, his interpersonal and communication skills left a lot to be desired. So much so, his performance was comedic 😂!

From the very beginning we were amused by his introduction and the distribution of the head sets- The phrase the fast and the furious springs to mind! As we all tried to adjust them under Tyler's impatient gaze! One poor fellow couldn't hear and it seemed he had changed the channel by mistake. Tyler's disappointed and annoyed tone made me laugh as it was like a parent to a child when they had done something wrong!

The strict instructions of where to stand and what not to do barked at us were hilarious! I was afraid to make eye contact with any of the workers just in case I got kicked off the tour or worse, I got them fired!

If you have Tyler as your tour guide: Be sure not to mention any of the competitors because 'we don't talk about them on the floor' says Tyler! Be sure not to ask about the most famous person they have made a guitar for because ' we don't brag' says Tyler! Be sure not to ask how many models of guitars are produced daily or anything with figures, because 'you can look that up on the internet ' says Tyler!

The list goes on...

What really blew me and my party away and kept us amused throughout the tour was the way he was intolerant of those that posed such questions he couldn't answer. The stumbling, angry and kurt responses, though amusing, were unnecessary!

I don't want to spoil the Tyler experience for anyone else as this is best savoured first hand!

Tyler really did make us laugh! What he lacked in stature, he more than made up for with a rudeness that was so unbelievable, it really felt like we were on a hidden camera...

With Martin guitars known as the gold standard I finally purchased a D28 Martin Guitar. After having it for 9 months I had noticed a change in its tone. I had the strings changed for the second time in 9 months but the tone continued to get worse. After further inspection the back had bowed significantly pulling away from the internal braces and cracked at the seam as well as a crack of the wood itself appeared. In taking it to a certified repair shop for Martin they said the guitar was extremely dried out, they asked if I live at higher altitude, did I have a wood burning stove, did I use tap water in my Oasis plus humidifier. I answered no to all these questions and reinforced I had a home humidifier that kept my house between 30-35% humidity while using the Oasis plus humidifier when I stored the guitar in its case. They referred me to Customer Service at Martin. After multiple conversations with Martin's representative, he told me that they would not participate in the repair since their "recommended "humidity level was between 45-55%. Based upon this particular guitar the repair shop said once I get the guitar back at an extensive cost for repair that I should always keep the guitar in its case and check the distilled water in the Oasis humidifier every couple days. What individual manages their guitars in such a fashion, much less any retail store. I have to feel that this particular guitar was susceptible to bowing and cracking. I believe Martin hid behind their "recommended" humidity of 45-55% to avoid any...