Businessman. A guitar maker, he founded the C.F. Martin and Company. He was born into a family of cabinet makers, but during the 1820’s he moved to Vienna and learned the guitar making trade from famed guitar maker Johann Stauffer. In 1833 he left Germany and opened his own luthier shop in New York City, becoming the first guitar maker in the United States to craft the Stauffer style headstock. In 1839 he left New York and opened a factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Of his many guitar innovations, his most important was the creation and perfection of x-bracing to the guitar top enabling it to handle the pressure of taut strings and heavy playing while maintaining a high quality tone. This x-bracing became the standard for all luthiers and is still used by virtually all guitar makers to this day. Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Mark Knopfler, Merle Haggard, John Mayer, Johnny Cash, Steve Miller, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Stephen Stills and Sting are just a few musicians who own or have owned a Martin guitar. In 2004, C.F. Martin and Company, still owned and operated by the Martin family, made their 1,000,000th guitar at their Nazareth factory. The Martin acoustic guitar is widely acknowledged as one of the best guitars in the world. (bio by: louise floria)  Family links:  Spouse:  Lucia Otilia Kuehle Martin (1803 – 1872)  Children:  Christian Frederick Martin (1825 – 1888)* *Calculated relationship