Why are large guitars called Dreadnoughts?

Stuball48

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Thanks Walrus-I love historical information and this, explaining the name "dreadnoughts" - my favorite body style for acoustics.
 

twocorgis

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From Music Radar:

"History reveals that it was the CF Martin Company that first coined the name ‘Dreadnought’ for an acoustic body size. Named after a British battleship launched in 1906, the original craft was a turning point in naval history, bettering its rivals in terms of armament, speed, size and firepower. A few of those attributes could apply to the big-bodied beast of the unplugged world, too."
 

Prince of Darkness

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Funnily enough, by the time Martin introduced their Dreadnought guitars, in 1916, HMS Dreadnought was no longer a particularly large battleship. The latest Queen Elizabeth class ships were nearly twice the size! However, Dreadnought had revolutionized battleship design, being bigger, faster, more heavily armed and armoured than anything previously built. Newer battleships were generally referred to as "Dreadnoughts", until the "Super Dreadnoughts" began to appear (the QE class which I already mentioned). These basically were to Dreadnoughts, what Dreadnought was to earlier designs:rugby:
 

Westerly Wood

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wow Walrus, i read this in that article and thanks for posting...so not even Martin wanted their name associated with this ground breaking and acoustic world changing all guitar watershed moment, but they handed the risk off to some publishing co in boston. Martin must have thought it would go over like a led zep.

The very first Dreadnought guitars (named for a class of World War I* era British battleships, "Dreadnought") were manufactured by Martin for the Oliver Ditson Company, a publishing firm based in Boston. Curiously enough, the guitars weren’t sold with the Martin name on them, but rather were marketed in Boston and New York under the Oliver Ditson brand name, beginning in 1916. These Dreadnoughts did not even include a Martin serial number, but instead used Ditson’s own serial numbering system. They continued to appear in the Ditson catalog until the company’s demise in the late 1920s.
 

JF-30

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Yep it has to do with big old war ships.
 

adorshki

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Final trivia tidbit:
I think it must have been within my first couple of months after I first registered when I posted in a thread questioning the spelling of the term.
It was occasionally spelled "DreadnAught" by some members and I asserted it was a mis-spelling due to the source of the name.
But in fact a fairly credible member said Guild itself used that spelling with an "a" in the mid-'60's.
I think it was the first time I was ever "Hans'd".
:glee:
Oh yeah, one other:
Does anybody else recall that Gibson actually called their dreadnoughts "jumbos" when first introduced?
When I l learned that, only within the last year or so, I finally realized why John Lennon used to call his J-160 a "jumbo".
And that what most of us call a "jumbo" now was actually the "Super Jumbo" when introduced by them.
:friendly_wink:
PS I wanna show up at a bluegrass jam with a Ditson, and see who knows what's up.
:glee:
 
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Guildedagain

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In earlier times, they called it a Man O' War.

And then flash forward, from Bunga Bunga to Cowabunga ;)
 
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dreadnut

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ZznlGLz.png


5ksjoN1.png
 

Westerly Wood

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Final trivia tidbit:
I think it must have been within my first couple of months after I first registered when I posted in a thread questioning the spelling of the term.
:glee:

LOL, so Al. I am surprised you waited 2 months Al, come on now...:) Now that is patience.
 

walrus

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I'm guessing "The Chief" would not be as popular today...

walrus
 

Charlie Bernstein

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Hm. As most of us know, dread nought and dread naught both mean fear nothing. So for years I assumed name for the guitar size was in honor of those big, fearless warships, too.

We can't blame Martin's marketing department for invoking the glamorous connection to big, domineering ships. But I've read that there was a more practical reason for calling those big guitars dreadnaughts and dreadnoughts.

Dread is also an old word for four. Four zeros - four naughts - originally simply meant that it was a bigger model than a Martin 00 and 000 - or any other guitar around.

A minor problem was that quadruple-oh is a mouthful. But - fear not! Dreadnought is easier to say - and clever, too, because of the big boats with the loud cannons.

But fast forward to a new century. Now Martin has guitars it calls 0000s, which are also bigger than 00s and 000s. If you want one, you have to be ready to cough up that even bigger word: quadruple-oh.

It's probably worth the effort.
 
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Charlie Bernstein

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The problem I'm having with this one is that absolutely nowhere do I find any confirmation of that, nor have I ever come across it in a lifetime of voracious reading.
Can your source cite a source for that?
Nope! Been looking around for it, myself. Damned if I can remember where I read it. If I find something, I'll be back here with the goods. Dread not!
 

mike1100

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I'm just glad the nautical ship class / guitar size naming convention ended at dreadnought. Hey guys, has anyone played a pre-war Martin dinghy (uke)?
 

adorshki

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Nope! Been looking around for it, myself. Damned if I can remember where I read it. If I find something, I'll be back here with the goods. Dread not!
:glee:
But,
I smell myth based on the fallacious contention that "dread" was an old word for "four".
But hey I'll gladly see the evidence if you ever find it!
But don't get too Ditsy when looking.
I'm just glad the nautical ship class / guitar size naming convention ended at dreadnought. Hey guys, has anyone played a pre-war Martin dinghy (uke)?
I'd probably be more interested in a catamaran:
big_red-guild.jpg
 
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Nuuska

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I'm just glad the nautical ship class / guitar size naming convention ended at dreadnought. Hey guys, has anyone played a pre-war Martin dinghy (uke)?


Perhaps someone in the orchestra of Dinghy Song

 
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