In Nazareth, PA, C.F. Martin’s guitar business flourished, he was obliged to adapt his elaborate European designs “to a rougher-edged, simpler American society” by making them “plainer [and] more utilitarian”.

Gradually, Martins lost their scrolled headstocks and abalone body inlays, and started to acquire outlines closer to those of a 20th century flat-top instruments.

This 1927 guitar seen here is 13 1/2 inches wide, and while a “Style 28” like this one would normally have a rosewood back and sides, the K suffix indicates that koa has been used. The 0-28K’s steel strings were, at the time of it’s introduction, a comparable novelty. Steel strings had replaced gut as standard on Martins in 1922.