Posted 11 years ago
shawn_g
(1 item)
Just bought a mint '95 Martin HD-28, and the head block shows the marking "CRYOGENIC" right above the serial number (see photo). I could find nothing on the web about this and contacted Customer Service at Martin and, after a little digging around, got this response:
"Fortunately for you, people tend to stay here for a long time! The guy who was in R&D at the time is now on his 41st year and remembers doing this. It was around the time we were experimenting with Cryogenic strings and decided to have the vendor freeze at least the top and the frets. It probably never should have left the building but some protos were offered to dealers as rewards and others were sold in employee proto sales. It could have come to you from either avenue."
I bought this guitar to play, but now I wonder whether the fact that it is an experimental prototype that was never really distributed may make it a valuable collector's item. Any thoughts on that? Any ideas how I could establish a value for it? If I play it, it will eventually show some wear. Should I lock it in a vault? Any help?
Sometimes if an item is too rare it can command less then one would want or expect from the marketplace. A collector may drive the price up, however it will not be "priceless" because no one will aspire to own it because no one knows it exists.
T A
I understand exactly what you've said. And I think I'm in that boat. I have a rare instrument, but it's such an oddity, nobody knows - or will care. I'll try to document the provenance I've got and keep it with the instrument for my heirs to deal with. In the meantime, I'll enjoy it and try to take as good care of it as I can. Thanks for the insight. - s
You are welcome.
T A