Lakewood News
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In the beginning there was a name… Lakewood.
Had I known how often I would be asked about its meaning, would I have chosen a different name? No – even after all these years and many questions, I am still happy with the name Lakewood, which has become so firmly anchored in the awareness of guitar history.
Martin Seeliger
In 2026, Martin’s search with his finger on the map will mark its 40th anniversary. Back then, in 1986, he already owned his music store at Liebigstraße 69 in Giessen. He had long since completed his training as a plucked instrument maker and was even a master craftsman in plucked instrument making. Two wonderfully long German words – and by the way, the profession is still officially called that today!
Alongside selling instruments in his shop, he was already diligently building guitars, and some people can still count themselves lucky to own one of the early “Martin Seeliger” guitars. At that time, these were exclusively classical guitars.
His love for American singer-songwriter music of the 1970s, as well as folk, blues, and country, led him to build steel-string guitars and distribute them through the German music trade. As he was looking for a concise and sonorous name for a steel-string guitar, he found the small town of Lakewood on Lake Erie with the famous finger on the map – and thus, Lakewood was born.
All of this was 40 years ago.
Since then, much has changed, yet many things have remained the same. Above all, the love and care devoted to each individual instrument must be mentioned. The Lakewood team stands as a constant, with a self-image as a superorganism that thinks as a collective intelligence and stands behind every single guitar. The team follows one guiding principle: there is only one guitar, one quality, and one customer. There are no exceptions.
This anniversary is now being honored with a limited special model. To make the ingredients even more valuable, we selected materials for the top as well as the back and sides that reflect this age and elevate the instrument through their exceptional maturity.
Lakewood M-32 Anniversary
- 40-year-old European spruce top from the private stock of our master luthier Moritz Sattler
- 40-year-old East Indian rosewood from the stock of Manfred Pletz, Martin Seeliger’s former instructor
- Wooden soundhole rosette core with abalone rings
- Ebony headstock veneer on front and back
- Lakewood logo on the front of the headstock and 40th Anniversary inlay on the back of the headstock, made of mother-of-pearl
- Maple body binding
- Cedro neck
- 650 mm scale length with neck joint at the 14th fret
- 45 mm nut width
- Gotoh SGL-510Z tuners in gold with finely engraved ebony buttons
- Maple bridge pins with abalone dots
- Body with open-pore, satin finish
- Top finished in high gloss
- Neck with open-pore, satin finish
- Headstock front and back high-gloss polished
- D’Addario XS Phosphor Bronze .012 – .053 strings
- Hiscox case
- Certificate of authenticity with serial number and photo book (available after guitar registration)
- strictly limited to 40 guitars, each guitar individually designated as No. x of 40
Anyone who would like to learn more about this guitar is best advised to visit one of our authorized dealers. The instrument is already available in several music stores.
Click here to visit the detail page of this special model