Martin guitar honors Click & Clack
It might make sense to immortalize Tom and Ray Magliozzi - a.k.a. Click & Clack, the Tappet Brothers of the "Car Talk" radio show - with a wrench or heavy duty jumper cables, but C.F. Martin & Co., a 175-year-old Pennsylvania firm that has been making musical instruments since 1833, is honoring the pair with a special edition $6,500 guitar.
(Provided by Martin, the video above this story shows the Magliozzi brothers receiving the special guitar. Be prepared to make a commitment - the video is just over eight minutes long and it features the lads performing a bluegrass paean to mountain dew. Presumably, Click & Clack will be even more animated in their new PBS cartoon TV show, which is scheduled to debut tonight on Channel 2. Click here to read a Globe story about the show. Clack here to read a review of the show.)
Unveiled last month at an industry trade show organized by the trade group NAMM, the special edition guitar is a variation of the "classic dreadnought," the $3,000 workhorse of the Martin line; according to C.F. Martin, the Click-&-Clack version is fashioned from Engelmann spruce, East Indian rosewood, and abalone pearl, among other components.
In recent years, the company has issued more than 100 special edition guitars, honoring such guitar greats as Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and Clarence White, according to the company's website.
So how did Click & Clack manage to make it into a finger-picking pantheon that also includes such six-string virtuosos as Robbie Robertson, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson?
"It's a little bit of a stretch," acknowledged Dick Boak, Martin's director of artist and public relations, who added quickly that Click & Clack are "very capable bluegrass musicians."
Maybe so. But it doesn't hurt that C.F. Martin IV, the current head of a family business that had $92 million in sales last year, is an "avid fan of Car Talk" and National Public Radio, Boak said. Another just-issued special edition Martin guitar celebrates "A Prairie Home Companion," the NPR show that features Garrison Keillor and plenty of music.
One idea being tossed about is that donors who contribute $15,000 or more to NPR might also receive one of these special edition guitars, with C.F. Martin providing the guitars to NPR at a discount, Boak said.
As for the Magliozzi brothers, the great men were unavailable for comment, one of their handlers wrote in an e-mail.
The Magliozzi brothers may be out of pocket, but not out of mind, thanks to tonight's scheduled debut of "Click & Clack's As the Wrench Turns" on PBS.
Making an Eric Clapton special-edition guitar is a sure-fire way to bring in extra revenue for C.F. Martin, Boak said.
But what about the Click-&-Clack guitar, which features artwork by "Car Talk" website illustrator Bill Morrison? Is that a potential money-maker too?
When it comes to Click & Clack, Boak said: "It's is not about revenue. It's about fun."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
