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Vintage 1956 Martin acoustic guitar reportedly played by a young Bob Dylan, then Bob Zimmerman, during the free folk guitar lessons its owner, Marvin Karlins, gave at the University of Minnesota in 1959 and 1960. The neck block is stamped “00-28G” and “151505.” The guitar has a spruce top, rosewood back and sides with a checkered back strip, white binding, an ebony fingerboard and tie-block bridge, and a slotted headstock with open-gear tuners and white buttons. The headstock bears the decal “C. F. Martin & Co. Est. 1833,” and the interior is stamped “C. F. Martin & Co., Nazareth, PA” and “Made for Gut or Nylon Strings.” Housed in a vintage black hardshell case with a crimson plush lining. In very good condition, with honest playwear throughout, including finish wear to the top around the soundhole and lower bout, scattered scratches and dings to the neck, back, and sides, and adhesive remnants to the headstock decal and edges. Bought new by Karlins in 1956 and owned by him for 70 years.
As a University of Minnesota undergraduate in 1959–1960, Marvin ‘Marv’ Karlins gave free folk singing and guitar lessons at the campus Hillel Foundation every Wednesday at 2 p.m. In his accompanying provenance letter, he recalls a newcomer stopping at the classroom door, listening, and stepping inside. Invited to demonstrate his abilities, the young musician borrowed this guitar and played a rock and roll song, mentioning an association with Bobby Vee. Bob Zimmerman subsequently became a regular pupil, and Karlins remembers him playing the instrument again in later sessions. When academic demands forced Karlins to end the classes, he directed Bob to the nearby Ten O’Clock Scholar coffeehouse, where folk singers gathered. It was the last time he saw the future Bob Dylan in person.
Karlins also describes a classroom photograph showing him holding the guitar with Dylan seated immediately to his right, which he later donated to the museum devoted to the musician. His account of the lessons appears in Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine, in the section he identifies as “Every Wednesday at 2:00 PM.” He also recounted the experience in his Psychology Today essay, ‘The Lesson I Learned Teaching Bob Dylan Folk Singing,’ and a December 2024 WTSP interview marking his 50th year teaching at the University of South Florida.
Accompanied by a two-page letter of provenance from Marvin Karlins identifying this as the guitar Dylan played.
