It’s been a good year for Martin’s lower-end acoustics, which are made not in the fabled Nazareth, PA facility, but some 350 miles south of the US border in Navojoa, Mexico. Originally opened to produce strings back in 1989, today it makes the “Backpackers, Little Martins, certain ukuleles, Dreadnought Junior, X-Series, and Road Series instruments,” says Greg Paul who oversees the Navojoa facility. “We have been producing Backpackers in Navojoa since 1989,” he adds, although the company itself has stated that didn’t happen until 1992: “a project that provided a foundation for developing woodworking and luthiery skills.”
“Since then, while becoming Martin’s sole manufacturer for strings, the woodworking craftspeople have continued to evolve their skills with training from Martin, including trips to the Nazareth factory, and now produce solid-wood models…
