Leo Fender’s Earliest Electric Guitar Test? A 1942 Martin 000-18

From the Factory, Players | March 4, 2026

Leo Fender’s Earliest Electric Guitar Test? A 1942 Martin 000-18

Before the Telecaster® and Stratocaster®, Leo Fender experimented on a Martin acoustic—and it’s on display at the Martin Museum.

Leo Fender's Martin Guitar in the Martin Museum

If you’ve ever plugged in a Telecaster, cranked a Strat®, or felt that unmistakable Fender® twang hit you right in the chest, here’s a wild thought: one of the earliest stepping stones on that road was a well-loved Martin acoustic.

And not just any Martin.

Right now, sitting in the Martin Museum in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, is a heavily modified 1942 Martin 000-18 (serial #82125)—a guitar that Leo Fender used as a real-world testbed while experimenting with amplification. It’s worn. It’s scarred. It’s currently unplayable. And it’s one of the coolest, most important pieces of guitar history you can stand in front of.

Because without Martin, the history of guitar-making—and music-making—would look and sound drastically different.

A 1942 Martin 000-18 Walks Into a Radio Shop…

The story starts in Southern California, back in 1942. A country-western performer named Fred Clay had a problem that every acoustic player has faced at some point (especially back then): he couldn’t be heard over the band and the room.

So he did what you’d do if you knew the right person—he brought his guitar to a local shop in Fullerton.

That shop belonged to Leo Fender.

“Fred had this 000-18 and went into Leo Fender’s shop, and he said, ‘I’m having trouble being heard on stage, can you help me out?’” says Jason Ahner, Martin Museum and Archives Manager.

At the time, Leo was building amps and PAs, and he was already working on lap steel guitars, which were booming in popularity in country music. So he tried something that—looking back—feels inevitable.

He retrofitted Fred’s Martin with a magnetic pickup Leo had developed for lap steels.

And just like that, a Martin 000-18 became the launchpad for something much bigger.

Leo Fender’s First Known Attempt to Amplify a Fretted Guitar

Here’s the line from the museum placard that makes guitar history nerds do a double take:

“This resulting guitar represents a significant and early milestone in the progression of experiments that led to the introduction of Fender's first solid-body electric guitars in 1946. In fact, this is Leo's first known attempt to amplify a fretted stringed instrument.”

That’s the key. This wasn’t Leo tinkering in the abstract. This was a real gigging musician, a real Martin, and a real problem that demanded a solution.

“Leo Fender was putting pickups in lap steel guitars, but that 000-18 would be the first example of him putting one in a Spanish-style guitar,” Jason explains. “That was a big step for him because he would build off of that.”

This happened before the Esquire. Before the Broadcaster/Telecaster. Before the Stratocaster. Before Fender became synonymous with the electric guitar.

It’s a reminder that big leaps in music history often start as quick fixes for working players.

What Leo Did to This Martin 000-18 (And Why It Looks So Wild)

Let’s be clear: this guitar has been through it.

This 1942 000-18 shows plenty of wear, and the modifications are impossible to miss:

A control knob cavity hole cut right into the top
A massive lap steel pickup mounted where the bridge would normally live
A trapeze tailpiece, shifting the whole stringing approach

It’s less “vintage acoustic” and more “mad scientist prototype”—the kind of thing you’d expect to see on a workbench with solder, sawdust, and a half-sketched idea that ends up changing the world.

And even though it’s currently unplayable, it’s absolutely priceless as an artifact.

Because this isn’t just a guitar. It’s a moment in music history.

The Martin Connection You Might Not Expect

When you think “Fender,” you probably think Southern California, solid bodies, colorful finishes, and amps turned up to a joyful, dangerous volume.

When you think “Martin,” you think Nazareth, Pennsylvania, acoustic tradition, time-tested tonewoods, and the sound that built the backbone of American music.

So what are they doing in the same story?

More than you might think.

“It’s kind of one of these links to legendary guitar builders and Martin Guitar,” Jason says. “You can see the influence Martin had on other builders, even electric builders.”

Jason points to something most people overlook: design language. Headstock shapes. Silhouettes. The visual DNA that gets borrowed, refined, and passed along.

“They were building solid-body instruments, but they were using this Martin Stauffer-esque headstock,” he notes, pointing out how builders like Leo Fender and Paul Bigsby were clearly looking at what came before—even as they pushed into something totally new.

In other words: Martin wasn’t just present for the acoustic era. Martin helped shape what came next.

A Milestone in the Road to the First Fender Solid-Body Guitars

This modified 000-18 represents an early rung on the ladder that led to Fender’s first solid-body electric guitar prototype in the late ’40s—and the mass-produced models that followed soon after.

And that’s why this Martin matters so much: it shows the electric guitar wasn’t born fully formed. It was experimented into existence, one bold idea at a time.

“Leo was friends with Les Paul and Paul Bigsby, and they all kind of shot ideas around with each other,” Jason says. “Each had their own thought of what the electric guitar would be, should be…but it was kind of Leo’s first attempt at building that electric instrument.”

And that attempt happened on a Martin.

Martin’s Place in Music History (Not Just Guitar History)

There are plenty of ways to measure influence—sales, artist rosters, iconic models, famous songs.

But one of the most powerful is this: when innovators are inventing the future, they often start with a Martin on the table.

That’s why guitars like this belong in the Martin Museum. They prove, again and again, that Martin isn’t just part of guitar history—it’s part of music history. The company’s instruments didn’t simply accompany culture. They helped shape it.

Without Martin, the timeline of guitar-making and music-making would look—and sound—drastically different.

See Leo Fender’s Modified Martin 000-18 in Person

If you’re anywhere near Nazareth, Pennsylvania, come see this piece of history with your own eyes at the Martin Museum.

Photos don’t quite capture the shock of it—the size of that pickup, the boldness of the cuts, the sheer “let’s try it” energy radiating off a 1942 acoustic that accidentally helped point the way toward electrifying rock, country, blues, and beyond.

It’s a reminder that the next big thing in music often starts as a simple request:

Can you help me be heard?