1950 Martin T-28

Martin added the tiple to their catalog in 1923 but they had been building the diminutive 10-string instrument since 1919. They were inspired to build them by William J. Smith, a Martin distributor who brought a tiple back from a trip to Argentina and thought the instrument might do well during the ukulele craze of the time. Martin’s tiple was tuned the same as a ukulele, ADF#B or GCEA, and, because it was strung with steel strings, it was usually played with a pick. The tiple was popular in the early 1920s and they show up on quite a few pop recordings from the era. Tiples were also popular with African-American vocal groups in the 1940s and combos like  The Spirits of Rhythm, The Cats and the Fiddle, The Bronzeville Five and The Four Clefs prominently featured tiples on their recordings. (You can read lots more about tiples here.)

The T-28 was made of the same woods as the D-28, that is a spruce top and, in this case, Brazilian rosewood sides and back. By far, the most common tiples are the all-mahogany T-17 and the mahogany and spruce T-18, making this T-28 a relatively rare bird. I’ve seen and played lots of tiples over the years and it seems that they show up in great condition like this one or they have been played to death. The rosewood versions sound very sweet and this would would be a great instrument for a guitarist looking for a new sound. Fred Oster at Vintage Instruments is currently keeping this tiple’s ten strings in tune, but send him $2800 he would be happy to relegate the job to you.

If you’ve scrolled down this far, treat yourself to this great clip of The Cats and the Fiddle showing us how cool the tiple can be.