Perry Bechtels Martin Guitar

Have you seen this guitar? No photos exist of Perry Bechtel's custom guitar, and the guitar hasn't been seen since the early 1930s, but thanks to his extensive correspondence with C. F. Martin III, we do know that it looked like the instrument in the drawing. Bechtel didn’t actually own the guitar — it was owned by his employer, the Cable Piano Co. of Atlanta — and it may have been destroyed in a 1936 fire. (If, by chance, it did escape the flames, someone out there may have the first OM — without knowing what they have. Check your closets and under your beds.)