The Secret of the Martin Guitar

Jimi Hendrix played it, Elvis played it, and so did Bob Marley. Paul McCartney, Sting, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Wolfgang Niedecken. After his legendary Unplugged concert in 1992, Eric Clapton sparked a demand for the Martin guitar, an incredible success story in instrument making. A guitar legend that began in the 19th century in Markneukirchen in Vogtland, and whose continuation is still being written in America today.

Nearly 200 years ago, inventor Christian Friedrich Martin faced circumstances that still dominate daily life today: bureaucracy, excessive regulation, fear of competition, and narrow-mindedness. And just as tens of thousands of people leave their country today because they cannot find work, the young instrument maker from Saxony also turned his back on his homeland in search of freedom, heading to America. Six generations of the Martin family have since been building guitars for the world in Nazareth, PA. To this day, Christian Friedrich’s descendants have not forgotten their roots. The current company owner, C.F. Martin IV, has traveled to Markneukirchen, the birthplace and place of work of his ancestor, several times. The museum there not only displays pieces from his great-great-grandfather. The Martins, who are deeply connected to their homeland, repeatedly donate new developments from their product range for the exhibition – guitar history up close.

The film tells the story of the Martin guitar and, together with musicians like Eric Clapton, Wolfgang Niedecken, and Tracy Chapman, searches for the secret of this instrument.