RE: Twain and the Martin guitar

Please note that aficianados of antique guitars have long doubted the
veracity
of the story RE: Twain's guitar, although a photo of the purported guitar
did
appear in Acoustic Guitar a few years ago. First of all, note that, in
ROUGHING
IT, Twain does not mention any guitar, although he does make note of the
heavy
dictionary that he occasionally used as a pillow on the stage trip to the
West.
Although guitars at that time were smaller than today's models and are
referred
to as "parlor" guitars, the best guitars, and Martins were, and still are,
the
best, came in hard wood cases, commonly referred to as "coffin" cases due to
their shape.  Any such case would have been quite bulky and noticeable on
the
trip  west.  Secondly, Martin guitars, made in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, then
as
now, are on the expensive side, to the extent that the purchase of a Martin,
then as now, would likely be considered only by a very competent,
experienced
player, and there is no evidence that Twain qualifies in this regard.
Shipping
a guitar like a Martin as far west as St. Louis would have been an expensive
proposition in those days and besides, many cheaply-made, inexpensive
guitars
would have been readily available.  Also, Christian Friedrich Martin moved
the
company he founded in 1833 in New York City to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in
1839,
where it thrives to this day.  It's only a guess, but the Martin Company has
extensive sales records and to this day advertises its guitars in
conjunction
with famous players, e.g., recent ads associating a Martin with Johnny
Cash's
"Folsum Prison Blues."  Certainly Martin would take advantage of any known
association with an American celebrity like Twain.  Mike Longworth, Martin's
official historian, published many detailed descriptions of the entire
Martin
line of models during his lifetime and never once mentioned Twain.  In my
opinion, and that of other acoustic guitar fans, the account of the Twain
Martin
is likely bogus, and could be motivated by the possibility of increasing the
purported Twain instrument's value.  Until there is written documentation on
the
part of Twain, a sales record from the Martin Company or one of its agents,
or
independent documentation such as a photograph of Twain in the vicinity of
the
instrument in question, the existence of a Twain-Martin guitar should be
taken
with quite a few grains of salt and considered to "be greatly exaggerated."

Martin Zehr
Kansas City, Missouri