SKIN DEEP MAGAZINE • 13Yep—I toyed with titling this article ‘Homewood Bound’ but then decided
against it. Too many people out in the world don’t have a sense of adventure,
which is a shame because it’s a sense of adventure that brings us things like
these beautiful Martin guitars. So simple in their execution and yet incredibly
hard to pull off with any sense of authenticity. Then again, when you have two
brands whose main buzzwords are ‘pride’, you would expect nothing less...W
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It’s not so much of a stretch to see why I chose to bring these beast into
the fold this month. Tattoos, guitars and rum is just sex, drugs and rock
n roll in a different language. The images speak for themselves, and if
you’re a guitar hero, there’s nothing I can say about Martin Guitars that
you don’t already know. They’re pretty much top of the tree when it comes
to being taken seriously as a musician—which is why I don’t play one—and
around here, I certainly don’t need to say a single word about Norman ‘ Sailor
Jerry’ Collins.
Anyway, this limited edition series known as 'Ink & Wood’ features two
guitars named Homeward Bound and True Love—you can figure out which is
which all by yourself in about two seconds.
With more than 50 hours worth of hand craftsmanship going into each gui-
tar, (showcasing Padauk wood from Africa, Maple from the US, and Wild Grain
East Indian Rosewood from the high elevation forests of India), on the Home-
ward Bound version, flamed Hawaiian koa-wood has been integrated to signifyDIGGING A BIT DEEPER...
AND SOME SAND!
For those of you who dare to
dream of owning one of these
beasts—and they don’t come cheap
at £16,000 a time—here’s a deeper
dig into what going on:
These Dreadnought guitars are
inlaid with shell and hand-selected
wood species on the headplate,
fingerboard, and body. The artwork
takes shape in a multitude of rich,
earthy colours using a combination
of pearl and natural wood tones.
The wood tones are enhanced
using a technique called sand
shading—a process used to make a
picture appear to be more three-
dimensional in which a piece of
veneer to be incorporated into a
picture is partially submerged into
hot sand for a few seconds. The
deeper into the sand you go, the
hotter it is, and the darker the wood
gets. The more shallow, the lighter
the burn. Simple huh?
The full specification can be
found at martinguitar.com/guitars/
special-editions where you’ll also
find an unholy ton of other guitar
porn to wipe out your bank balance.
But if you’re anything like some
of us, you can never have too many
guitars and you only live once right?HOMEWARD
BOUND
martinguitar.com
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