1997 marked the 40th Anniversary of the founding of The Kingston Trio, one of America's most beloved and enduring musical groups. To commemorate The Kingston Trio's lasting contribution to folk and acoustic music, and in gratitude for their unswerving loyalty to Martin instruments throughout the years, C. F. Martin & Co. offered a special Kingston Trio Limited Edition consisting of 34 sets of three instruments each.

Each set includes a special Kingston Trio D-28 guitar, a custom 0-18T Tenor guitar, and a Vega long neck banjo - the instrumentation used by the Trio.

Each instrument in the Kingston Trio Limited Edition Set features special mother-of-pearl inlays of "The Kingston Trio" located between the 11th and 14th frets, plus the anniversary years "1957-1997" inlaid above the last fret. The letter style of these inlays is reminiscent of 1950's "pop art."

The Kingston Trio D-28 Dreadnought guitar features a solid square tapered headstock with a Brazilian rosewood headplate and Martin's "old style" scroll decal logo. The back and sides of the body are constructed of select, bookmatched East Indian rosewood. Grained ivoroid is utilized for the bindings and trim. The solid spruce soundboard utilizes 5/16" height scalloped X-bracing, shifted forward to a position approximately 1" from the soundhole. Both the bridge and the fingerboard are hand-crafted from genuine ebony. Fingerboard position markers are 1950's-era Style 28 mother-of-pearl dots. The bridge is fitted with a long (or "through") saddle fashioned from genuine bone, as is the hand-cut nut. Tuning machines are Martin's vintage style open-geared variety, finished in gold, with gold "butterbean" knobs. Bridge and endpins are white, inlaid with tortoise colored "redeye" dots. A hand-beveled and polished tortoise colored pickguard is used to simulate the old, under-the-finish application.

The custom 0-18T Tenor features back and sides of genuine mahogany, select Sitka spruce soundboard with Style 18 rosette, tortoise bindings, beveled pickguard, gold vintage tuners with "butterbean" knobs, and mother-of-pearl Kingston Trio anniversary inlays. One interesting custom touch is that genuine ebony is utilized for the fingerboard and bridge.

The Vega® Long-Neck Folk Model banjo is specially made and warranted for this commemorative issue by the Deering Banjo Company of Lemon Grove, CA. The extra long 25-fret neck, which facilitates easy key changes to suit the vocalist, was originally suggested to Vega by Pete Seeger. It was later popularized by Dave Guard and John Stewart of The Kingston Trio and soon became the "workhorse banjo" of virtually every major folk group.

Specifications for the Kingston Trio Limited Edition Vega Long Neck Banjo are similar to the original Fairbanks No. 2 Tu-Ba-Phone XL models made by Vega of Boston. Metal parts are nickel plated. The fingerboard is ebony, bound in white, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl dots. The Vega "star" is inlaid at the 5th fret and scaled down "The Kingston Trio" and "1957-1997" inlays are utilized to match the D-28 and the 0-18T models of the commemorative set.

Each instrument in the Kingston Trio Limited Edition Set was individually numbered in sequence and only 40 sets were made. Each instrument's label is personally signed by Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds, and George Grove, as well as former member John Stewart. C. F. Martin IV, Martin's Chairman and CEO, also signed each label. The Dreadnought and Tenor guitars are offered with a Geib Style deluxe vintage hardshell case. The Vega Long Neck Banjo comes with Deering's high quality hardshell case.

There will never be any more sets made and this set is #1. Comes with a letter of authenticity by Bob Shane. $90,000

Martin Celebrates Kingston Trio 45th Anniversary With Bob Shane D-28KTBSDG LTD Edition Guitar

IIn designing this superb instrument, Martin closely examined Bob's original 1957 D-28 which was purchased at Bergstrom Music in Honolulu, Hawaii (his home town). This guitar, still in excellent condition, was used in the Trio until 1960. In addition, specs from Bob's 1960 D-28 were referenced as well.

The D-28KTBSDG is a 14-fret Dreadnought crafted of select East Indian rosewood back and sides, coupled with a premium Sitka spruce top. Scalloped 5/16" X-top bracing, shifted 1" from the soundhole in the prewar style, is utilized for enhanced tone. Traditional 28-style appointments include checkered back inlay strip, Style 28 rosette and top inlay, and grained ivoroid bindings, heel cap and end piece.

The solid mahogany neck features a square tapered headstock with polished lacquer head plate (using the old style scroll logo decal) and handcarved diamond volute. The satin finished neck is fitted with a genuine ebony fingerboard and inlaid with mother-of-pearl position dots, and "The Kingston Trio" logo is between the 11th, 12th and 13th frets, with "Bob Shane" pearl signature between the 19th and 20th frets. The belly bridge, also of genuine ebony, features the newly engineered vintagestyle long "drop-in" saddle.

Other features include white bridge and end pins with tortoise colored "red eye" dots, Grover 102C Rotomatic tuning machines, genuine bone nut, and a beveled and polished tortoise color pickguard. The body is finished in our highest grade polished lacquer; the top features aging toner, as well. Each guitar was numbered in sequence and only 51 were made. It is personally signed by Bob Shane and C.F. Martin IV, and comes in a deluxe Geib® style vintage hardshell case.

For real Kingston Trio aficionados, this # 1 D-28KTBS has the "Josh White" oversized black pickguards. In 1963, these style guards were affixed to Bob's 1960 D-28 by Harmon Satterlee, the San Francisco luthier and Martin dealer who did virtually all of the repair work on the Trio's instruments. Bob had picked up the idea from folksinger Stan Wilson (who had picked it up from blues artist Josh White) as a way of preventing complete wearing through of the top from heavy pick usage. These are a Shane trademark of sorts among Trio fans.

There will never be any more of these guitars made and this guitar is #1. Comes with a letter of authenticity by Bob Shane. $40,000

Kingston Trio 50th Anniversary Special 12-Fret 00-21- Commemorating The Life Of Dave Guard

In creating the 00-21 Kingston Trio model, Martin went back to the early 00-21 patterns to closely replicate Dave Guard's guitar, but with a few important variations for improved tone and playability.

The back and sides are crafted of premium East Indian rosewood, carefully bookmatched for beauty and symmetry. The back is joined with the traditional checkerboard backstrip. Highly-prized Italian Alpine spruce is used for the top, X-braced with scalloped 1/4" Sitka spruce braces for increased volume and resonance. A small maple bridgeplate is used per the original specifications.

The distinctive Style 28 rosette with black/white rings also follows the original specs, as does the Style 21 tortoisecolored front and back binding and tortoise-colored endpiece. As a very special "anniversary" touch, the 00-21 Kingston Trio Edition model features an ebony belly bridge with long bone saddle and black bridge pins with white inlay. Saddle and nut are of genuine bone. A vintage st yle tortoise-colored pickguard completes the top appointments.

The 12-fret adjustable modified V-shaped neck, for easy and comfortable play, is crafted from genuine mahogany and features a square-tapered slotted headstock with old style decal logo. Premium Waverly/Sloane side-mounted tuning machines, with engraved plate and ivoroid buttons, ensure precise tuning.

The fingerboard is fashioned from black ebony, another special "anniversary" feature, and measures 1 7/8" at the nut and 2 5/16" at the 12th fret. Vintage-style abalone slotted squares mark the positions of the 5th, 7th and 9th frets.

The instrument is finished in our highest grade polished nitrocellulose lacquer, with aging toner added to the top for an elegant vintage look.

Only 100 of these exquisite 00-21 Kingston Trio instruments were offered. Each bears an interior label personally signed by original Kingston Trio member and cofounder Bob Shane and C. F. Martin IV. A second label bears a photo of the Trio during the Guard years, showing Dave with his 00-21 and commemorating his musical life. Each instrument comes with a Geib "Cabernet" vintange style hardshell case.

There will never be any more of these guitars made and this is #1. Comes with a letter of authenticity by Bob Shane. $30,000

For more information or to purchase one of these guitars or the anniversary set, please send Bob Shane an Email