000-42 (serial no. 73234)
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
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
- 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