000-42 (serial no. 73234)

Eric Clapton British
1939
Not on view
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.
Eric Clapton played this guitar in a landmark 1992 appearance on MTV Unplugged. It featured an acoustic set of traditional blues songs and reworked versions of his own classic compositions such as “Layla,” which he transformed from a lustful rock song into a tender ballad. The performance reflected a cultural shift in rock and roll, ushering in a new era of acoustic rock and roots music and reviving interest in the less common Martin 000-style guitars.

Technical Description:

Flat top with round sound hole; spruce top, rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard; 24 3/4 in. scale; natural finish with ivory binding and abalone borders around edges of body, fingerboard, and sound hole; set neck with ivory binding and abalone “snowflake” inlays to fingerboard; headstock with rosewood veneer and gold C.F. Martin logo; ebony bridge with inlaid ivory pegs, silver closed-back Grover tuners, celluloid tortoiseshell pickguard; One tuner replaced with open-back Waverly tuner

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: 000-42 (serial no. 73234)
  • Artist: C. F. Martin & Co.
  • Artist: Eric Clapton (British, Ripley, Surrey born 1945)
  • Date: 1939
  • Geography: Nazareth, Pennsylvania, United States
  • Medium: Spruce, rosewood, mahogany, ebony, ivory, abalone, silver, celluloid plastic
  • Dimensions: Length: 39 3/4 in. (101 cm)
    Width: 15 in. (38.1 cm)
    Depth: 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm)
    Weight: 4-6 lbs. (1.8 - 2.7 kg)
  • Classification: Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted
  • Credit Line: Courtesy of Jim Irsay
  • Curatorial Department: Musical Instruments