A Bit of Martin Family History

[Saxquest.com]

Good to hear from you again Chris! I'm glad you had a chance to connect with your history and included your family! That's awesome!!

I finally got around to photoing the gold plate Martin "De Luxe" model tenor sax from our museum's collection the other day. This is the most ornate Martin I've come across in over 20 years of looking. It has a big warm lush tone and the lower end speaks so freely that the horn practically plays itself. I've attached a few photos below.

If you want to check out the entire spread, I've posted 50+ photos in the Martin Handcraft page of the museum on saxophone.org. This is a true testament to what the word "handcraft" really was all about. I can't imagine how many hours went into the engraving, let alone the masking off and silver plate inlay.

Cheers,
Mark Overton
saxquest.com

[MartinMusicMan]

*drool* That is one beautiful horn.

[Head2wind]

What a incredibly beautiful horn - and the craftsmen that made it had so little of today's technology to work with.

and $400 ??? - I know it must have been a lot then, but goodness gracious!

[Head2wind]

I believe I've uploaded another album into the url listed below. This album includes a number of press clippings that gives some insight into Martin Band History, as well as both professional and personal history of both my grandfather Fred Holtz and that of O.P. Bassett (majority owner and G.M. of MBI from 1920 til his death in 1931).

https://plus.google.com/photos/11672...JTGpZCqncaAhwE

Please let me know if you denied access for any reason.

After Mr. Bassett's death following several years fighting a debilitating disease, Mrs Bassett became the majority owner of MBI. She (born Helen Barney) was an Elkhart native, a nurse and friend of my maternal Grandmother. She had cared for Mr Bassett's first wife who died in 1925. Sadly, not long her marriage, O.P. Bassett fell into poor health and she was called on to nurse him. Although Elkhart was not a small town (pop. 40,000), I remember well the Bassett home, the Beardsley House, Grampa Holtz' house, and the Martin plant all within a few blocks.
The story goes that Grampa Holtz was offered the ownership of MBI prior to WWII. Perhaps foolishly, or perhaps not, he turned it down. Martin did well financially during the war years as do most defense contractors. Mrs Bassett retained ownership until the RMC purchase in 1961. I believe she lived well into her eighties.

Chris Holtz

[Head2wind]

Very late last night I was able hookup with the Presto/Music Trades Review site at http://mtr.arcade-museum.com and culled thru too many listings, but found some more great clipping pertaining to Martin Band, Indiana Band Instruments, my Grandfather, Fritz and more. I'll add pieces as I have the time to the link listed in the above posting. Some of it is tedious likely, but there's a great bit of Martin flavor in most all of it. Many thanks are due to NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) who funded the scanned library and to the Music Box Society International (http://www.mbsi.org/ ) who preserved the publications.

a day later.....
I've loaded a large number of clippings already - have a look, they provide quite a look into the past.

[Head2wind]

I know I'd be very interested to know just when the company stopped using the Indiana Band Instrument logo on their horns. I've been told by some that they have horns (Indiana) from the late thirties with Martin tags. I know they ended the actual corporate entity in 1942, but if the pre-42 Martin tags are true, it must have very grey, and not black to white. I do believe the 'range2' serial numbers on 'themartinstory' site, but that may not tell the whole story.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/martin-trump...item3376674c06

Here's an Indiana that confuses things a bit. It has a Martin (range1) serial number denoting 1935 vintage, but uses the Martin logo rather than the Indiana Band Instr Co label. It confirms a bit what I imagined to be a grey area......or is it a Kenosha horn with a third set of serial numbers?

[bruce bailey]

Hard to tell. I suspect it is a very late Elkhart and would use the second serial numbers. If so it would be very late, around 1971 but not sure. Compare the style to some Holton trumpets from teh 1970 era and if it matches, it could be a stencil horn made after the Leblanc purchase. The engraving is not from the 1930s.

[tonsmink]

can anyone tell me about this PARTICULAR "MARTIN" ALTO [stencil?] sax its s a MARTIN handcraft LEWIN with a serial #5916 with a top F key . the date of mnf is put at around the 30,s

[Head2wind]

As far as I know if Lewin used the 'range2' number list as shown on 'themartinstory.net', the horn works out to a 1930 vintage. Lewin might have requested use of their own numbers and then it's anybody's guess.

[jthole]

Wow! I just found this thread here on SOTW. A big thank you to all for the great info on my favorite sax brand!

[MyMartinTenor]

jt -- I'm with you! I had a terrible start to the calendar year and apparently missed this whole thread until today. WOW! I play Martins and Conns exclusively, and play every day on my '54 Comm-III Martin tenor. Thanks for all this great info, Martin family!

[Head2wind]

Just acquired a 1938 INDIANA BAND INSTRUMENT CO trumpet to add to our mantel. Patsy is happily playing her 1950-ish trumpet in the school band. We have both an alto and a tenor Indiana sax as well. The 1938 is our first IBICO labeled horn.
It is a slightly older design than Patsy's 'Indiana by Martin'. I'll do some studying to compare it to older handcrafts.