Where to find a Martin serial number

Finding it

1. Hold the guitar so you can see into the soundhole with the neck pointing away from you.
2. Look up and towards the neck. The neck block is the solid piece of wood where the neck joins the body.
3. Use a torch angled from the side rather than straight on — raking light throws the stamp into relief and makes it far easier to read.
4. A small mirror helps considerably. A phone camera with the flash on, held inside the soundhole, works too.

Two numbers, not one

The neck block carries two stamps. The upper one is the model designation — D-28, 000-18, HD-35 and so on. The lower one is the serial number.

This is the most common Martin identification error: reading the model stamp as part of the serial, or the reverse. They sit close together and are stamped in the same style. The serial is the longer, purely numeric one.

If there is no stamp

Instruments made before 1898 were not serialised in this sequence and may carry no number at all. A neck reset or a major repair can also obscure the stamp, and on some instruments the finish has darkened enough to make it very hard to read.

If the block is genuinely blank, the model designation, the bracing pattern and the construction details become the evidence instead — and that is a job for a specialist rather than a serial lookup.

Common questions

Where is the serial number on a Martin guitar?

Stamped on the neck block inside the body, visible through the soundhole when you look up towards the neck. The model designation is stamped directly above it.

My Martin has two numbers on the neck block. Which is the serial?

The lower one. The upper stamp is the model designation, such as D-28 or 000-18. The serial is the longer, purely numeric stamp beneath it.