A Very Unusual Bird.

This very unusual 16 inch-wide Martin electric thinline guitar weighs just 5.90 lbs. Double-cutaway, three-ply laminated maple, two inch thick hollow arch-top body with two 'f' soundholes. One-piece 'bolt-on' mahogany neck with a thin profile and four screws which in turn are covered by a small metal plate with four small screws. Single-bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 original medium frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Single-bound "Grammar" style headstock with 'mahogany' veneer on face, concave curve and pointed corners. Martin decal in gold with black trim. Single-layer triangular black plastic truss-rod cover with one screw. The body of the guitar is triple-bound on the top and single-bound on the back. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons (each one stamped on the underside "D-169400 / PATENT NO". Two original DeArmond Dynasonic pickups with metal trapezoid bezels and outputs of 2.89k and 2.65k. The bridge pickup with a black plastic spacer. Black lucite pickguard secured by two screws. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout and a three-way pickup selector switch on the treble horn. Guild style black plastic control knobs with 'fluted' sides, white lettering and metal tops. Aluminum 'compensated' bridge on aluminum base, Martin "M" cutout tailpiece. Inside the bass 'f' hole the serial number and model number are stamped "216926 / GT-75". Also the "Martin & Co" logo is 'branded' on the inside. There are a few very minor and insignificant surface marks but overall this rare bird is in  (9.00) exceptionally fine condition. Housed in the original Martin black four-latch hardshell case with green plush lining (9.00)

The two DeArmond pickups give this rare bird a sound very similar to the Gretsch hollow bodies of the fifties.

"The Martin F Series bit the dust in mid-'65, to be supplanted by the somewhat updated, nattier GT Series of bound archtop hollowbody electrics. The first few prototypes were dubbed the XTE Series and produced in 1965. The guitars were renamed the GT Series and swung into production in the beginning of 1966. The GT Series consisted basically of two models, the GT-70 and GT-75. These were thinlines with two f-holes, a 15th fret neck joint (actually more frets were clear of the body), bound 22-fret rosewood fingerboards, dot inlays, and new, bound, wide-flared three-and-three headstocks with a concave curve in the pointed crown. The GT-70 was a re-styled two-pickup, single-cutaway recalling the F-55s. The cutaway retained the wide horizontal angle of before, however the upper bass bout received a more graceful treatment, with a slight inward curve as it met the neck at the 16th fret. The controls were the same as before; the elevated pickguard had become a large white affair, the tailpiece was the V-notched Bigsby. Pickups remained our familiar DeArmond humbuckers. Gone were the plastic bridges in favor of metal adjustable finetune variety. Finishes were either burgundy or black. The first prototype serial number was 203803. Around 1,450 of these were made between January of 1966 and October of 1968. The GT-75 was a re-tooled two-pickup, double-cutaway F-65 with the same appointments as the GT-70. The major change was moving the heel forward to the body juncture, eliminating the awkward body extension of the F-65. The first prototype serial number was #204108. 1,555 GT-75s were built from January '66 to October '68." (Michael Wright, Vintage Guitar Magazine, November, 2003).