Anyone hear of Luther named...

[r***@pacbell.net]

Dear Guitar maker Group,
My first post and a question. Does anyone heard of a Luther named Jose
Mario Martello? Not sure if I spelt his name right.
I met this man in the early 1970's his shop was in his converted garage
attached to his house in a conventional city home in either
Concord or Walnut Creek , California. He had a guitar near or at
completion it was a flat-top folk
jumbo size if I remember correctly, with lots of gorgeous inlay. It was
in the middle $2K - $3K price range. He had said the guitar was for I
think it was either Stephen Still or David Crosby (who I as
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young). I was in my early 20's but thought it
funny that he didn't play or at least play according to him very well,
but I understood.
Just in passing a father came into his shop followed by his son and
son's buddy, while I was there one afternoon. The father was irate
about the broken neck on the Paul McCartney base (sorry if misspelt).
The neck had separated at the base of the body. The father, while the
guitar maker checked the instrument, complained that the son promised
that he would polish the instrument up every day. You
know typical over zealous pop. Jose was very calm about the whole thing
and said he just bought this new (I believe it wa a
lincoln) car and was going to be didn't polish it like he hoped he
would. With that the dad seemed to have calmed down.
Anyway the whole situation was pretty interesting. I was there just to
have a pick guard added to my guitar a cheap $65.00
guitar that I still have.
Enjoyed sharing this story but would like to know it anyone whew of him.
Thanks
Mark Holt

I'm his son, Rolando and your account is fairly on target. He lived and worked in Concord and Martinez California. David Crosby owned one of his guitars. I have his last guitar he made before he passed away in October 2006.

[d***@gmail.com]

Bonjour,
Etant novice en matière d'acoustique, je n'aurai qu'une seule question.
Savez-vous si Mario Martello a produit ou modifier un amplificateur de guitare; car j'ai en ma possession un objet dont les seules similitudes trouvées sur Internet sont : soit un Fender, soit un Marshall, soit un Hiwatt. A la différence près qu'il porte le nom de Martello et est équipé d'un haut-parleur FANE. Merci de vos réponses

[Glutton]

Post by d***@gmail.com
Bonjour,
Etant novice en matière d'acoustique, je n'aurai qu'une seule question.
Savez-vous si Mario Martello a produit ou modifier un amplificateur de
guitare; car j'ai en ma possession un objet dont les seules similitudes
trouvées sur Internet sont : soit un Fender, soit un Marshall, soit un
Hiwatt. A la différence près qu'il porte le nom de Martello et est
équipé d'un haut-parleur FANE. Merci de vos réponses.

Translated:

Hello,
Being a novice in acoustics, I will have only one question.
Do you know if Mario Martello produced or modified a guitar amplifier;
Because I have in my possession an object whose only similarities found
on the Internet are: either a Fender, a Marshall or a Hiwatt. With the
difference that it bears the name of Martello and is equipped with a
speaker FANE. Thank you for your answers

[n***@gmail.com]

Post by r***@pacbell.net

Dear Guitar maker Group,
My first post and a question. Does anyone heard of a Luther named Jose
Mario Martello? Not sure if I spelt his name right.
I met this man in the early 1970's his shop was in his converted garage
attached to his house in a conventional city home in either
Concord or Walnut Creek , California. He had a guitar near or at
completion it was a flat-top folk
jumbo size if I remember correctly, with lots of gorgeous inlay. It was
in the middle $2K - $3K price range. He had said the guitar was for I
think it was either Stephen Still or David Crosby (who I as
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young). I was in my early 20's but thought it
funny that he didn't play or at least play according to him very well,
but I understood.
Just in passing a father came into his shop followed by his son and
son's buddy, while I was there one afternoon. The father was irate
about the broken neck on the Paul McCartney base (sorry if misspelt).
The neck had separated at the base of the body. The father, while the
guitar maker checked the instrument, complained that the son promised
that he would polish the instrument up every day. You
know typical over zealous pop. Jose was very calm about the whole thing
and said he just bought this new (I believe it wa a
lincoln) car and was going to be didn't polish it like he hoped he
would. With that the dad seemed to have calmed down.
Anyway the whole situation was pretty interesting. I was there just to
have a pick guard added to my guitar a cheap $65.00
guitar that I still have.
Enjoyed sharing this story but would like to know it anyone whew of him.
Thanks
Mark Holt

I'm his son, Rolando and your account is fairly on target. He lived and worked in Concord and Martinez California. David Crosby owned one of his guitars. I have his last guitar he made before he passed away in October 2006.

Hi, Rolando - DeLara in San Marcos TX. I just saw an estate sale beginning tomorrow, 11.28.18 in Canyon Lake Texas that has a guitar made by your father listed as one of the items for sale. It is absolutely gorgeous!