Great Acoustics: A Cutting-Edge 1931 Martin OM-18 Owned by Country Legend Conway Twitty

Country entertainer Conway Twitty was renowned for his voice, his hair, and songs like “It’s Only Make Believe,” but he also had excellent taste in acoustic guitars. One instrument that found its way to auction after his 1993 death was this 1931 Martin OM-18, recently spotted at RetroFret Vintage Guitars in Brooklyn, New York. 

In its day, this instrument was cutting edge. The 14-fret, long-scale neck with a shortened 000 mahogany body was a new combination; the Adirondack spruce top’s X bracing was sophisticated; and the updates—new Grover single-unit guitar machines, a slightly larger tortoiseshell pickguard, as well as the first iteration of the silkscreened C.F. Martin logo—set a new standard. In 1931, with the average national wage at $1,850 a year, this guitar was priced at $50. 

Changes were afoot, however. The OM-18’s bar frets were soon phased out, and after 1933, the year Twitty was born, Martin renamed this model the 000-18 and shortened the scale length from 25-1/4 inches to 24.9. The OM-18 from 1930—33 would ultimately become one of the most desired of all mahogany Martins.

Twitty owned this instrument for decades, and in 1975, he hired guitar-repair icon Don Teeter to do some work on it. Ten years after Twitty’s death, OM expert Eric Schoenberg had it restored at Gruhn Guitars to its original state, with a correct reproduction bridge and bridge plate. The soft V profile neck (with a 1-3/4–inch–wide nut) has been reset, the original frets on the ebony fingerboard are recrowned, and there have been practically invisible repairs to its mahogany back, sides, and neck. But despite the tiny dings and scratches—including a small, discolored spot on the soundhole edge—this OM-18 seems to have been cared for supremely well. Best of all, it sounds great.

“Compared to my favorite Martins, which are usually late-’20s 12-fret 00s and 000s, I often find original OMs a little disappointing,” says RetroFret’s Peter Kohman. “But this OM-18 has a lot of punch and ring, with substantial depth, too. I’m not sure if Twitty had anything to do with this, but it does seem to have had a lot of sound played into it for a relatively clean 93-year-old guitar. I can say honestly this is the best-sounding OM-18 I’ve had the pleasure of playing. And, of course, I’ve played ‘It’s Only Make Believe’ on it more than once!”