Note: this article is from memory and not from research, so it may not fit the current understanding of the Grand Story of the OM. Also, the image in the header is taken from Christophe Grellier's nicely-drawn Martin OM plan, which is available as a free download from his website. Thanks Christophe!The Orchestra Model (OM) guitar is the result of a collaboration between the C.F. Martin Guitar company and a jazz-era banjo player from Atlanta named Perry Bechtel. In the late 1920s, the days of the banjo as a very popular instrument were coming to a close, and banjo players like Bechtel were migrating Read more [...] What’s an OM?
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Note: this article is from memory and not from research, so it may not fit the current understanding of the Grand Story of the OM. Also, the image in the header is taken from Christophe Grellier's nicely-drawn Martin OM plan, which is available as a free download from his website. Thanks Christophe!The Orchestra Model (OM) guitar is the result of a collaboration between the C.F. Martin Guitar company and a jazz-era banjo player from Atlanta named Perry Bechtel. In the late 1920s, the days of the banjo as a very popular instrument were coming to a close, and banjo players like Bechtel were migrating Read more [...] 
So, this is the third guitar I've started for Whit. He's the only person to whom I feel like I owe one of my home-made guitars. The only person who's still alive and can wring every bit of tone from a nice guitar, I should say. He taught me a lot of what I know about guitars and music. And a bunch of other stuff. He's been my favorite "guitar guy" since 1973 or so when we started the first of our several southern boogie bands -- just a great guitar player.
And there's more: one summer night, I think it was 1977, I backed my car over his new Takamine nylon-string guitar in its chipboard case