Martin Announces The HD Elliot Easton Custom Artist Edition Guitar

Jul 15, 2006

Anyone who has heard Elliot Easton's inventive hooks, imaginative arrangements and melodic solos knows he is a gifted guitarist with impeccable taste and tone. Easton established his reputation as lead guitarist for The Cars, one of the world's most popular bands of the late

1970s and 1980s, but his playing over the years has demonstrated an impressive stylistic range. He also is among the most recognizable left-handed guitarists playing today.

Like many electric guitarists, Easton has an acoustic side that doesn't get a lot of exposure. That acoustic side has been expressed almost exclusively on a Martin (his guitar collection includes several) which he primarily uses for songwriting and studio work, but also occasionally takes on stage. So when he and C. F. Martin collaborated on a custom edition guitar that would bear his name, Easton proved ready for the challenge and very definite about how "his" guitar would sound and look.

Easton asked Martin to build his dream guitar: dreadnought body, Adirondack spruce top, scalloped Adirondack spruce braces, rare quilted mahogany back and sides, fine herringbone trim around the top and rosette, modified "V" neck with diamond volute, gold Waverly™ tuners with butterbean knobs, ebony bridge and fingerboard, long pattern "diamonds & squares" position markers, the "Old Style" Martin decal on the headplate and polished gloss lacquer finish throughout. He also wanted the guitar with "stage ready" electronics, so as requested, the Fishman Ellipse Aura™ system (release date of August 2006) will be available as a factory-installed option. Mounted inside the soundhole, it eliminates the need to cut into the side of the guitar and allows the instrument to retain all of its aesthetic charm.

The HD Elliot Easton Custom Edition may be ordered as a left-handed or right-handed instrument with no additional charge. Packed in a vintage-inspired Geib™-style case, each Martin HD Elliot Easton Custom Edition guitar bears an interior label individually signed by Elliot Easton and

Martin Chairman C.F. Martin IV, and numbered in sequence. The HD Elliot Easton Custom Edition is open-ended and authorized C.F. Martin dealers have already begun accepting orders.

For more information, visit their web site at www.martinguitar.com.