Martin Guitar Factory Tour

Martin Guitar, established 1833 in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.  This tour was part of a ride I took during this years PA state Harley Owner Group Rally, July 2013.

Entrance to the historical museum inside the main entrance to Martin.

This is the 1 millionth Martin Guitar.  They have a master at pearl inlay who did the work.  It's Amazing!

I was surprised to see that Martin still has many hours of hand work into every Martin guitar made.  About 200 finished guitars are shipped every day.  But there are thousands in various processes at any one time.

We couldn't go down into this part of the factory.  There are 600 employees working here in basically only 1 shift.   Although non-union their turnover is very low due to the super benefits that everyone gets. 

There are 7 layers of spray coating that takes days to complete as there is a huge drying period in between each application.

Who knows who wrote these lyrics and where it is from?
The song:  The Joker by Steve Miller, Steve Miller Band  from the album The Joker released in 1973.  Back when I had an extensive collection of vinyl I owned all of his records.  Bought 'em when they first came out.