Now is the right time to become an American Federation of Musicians member. From ragtime to rap, from the early phonograph to today's digital recordings, the AFM has been there for its members. And now there are more benefits available to AFM members than ever before, including a multi-million dollar pension fund, excellent contract protection, instrument and travelers insurance, work referral programs and access to licensed booking agents to keep you working.

As an AFM member, you are part of a membership of more than 80,000 musicians. Experience has proven that collective activity on behalf of individuals with similar interests is the most effective way to achieve a goal. The AFM can negotiate agreements and administer contracts, procure valuable benefits and achieve legislative goals. A single musician has no such power.

The AFM has a proud history of managing change rather than being victimized by it. We find strength in adversity, and when the going gets tough, we get creative - all on your behalf.

Like the industry, the AFM is also changing and evolving, and its policies and programs will move in new directions dictated by its members. As a member, you will determine these directions through your interest and involvement. Your membership card will be your key to participation in governing your union, keeping it responsive to your needs and enabling it to serve you better. To become a member now, visit www.afm.org/join.

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Tag Archives: guitar book

Books-Resources, Products

Inventing the American Guitar: The Pre-Civil War Innovations of C.F. Martin and His Contemporaries

July 1, 2015 IM

This book traces C.F. Martin’s evolution as a craftsman and entrepreneur and explores the influences and experiments that led to his creation of the American guitar that’s played around the world today. Telling the story of how a European instrument was transformed into the American flat-top guitar, Inventing the American Guitar describes the early history of the American guitar design in detail. It includes essays by prominent writers and spectacular color photographs. It also contains fold-out pages of schematic drawings for two early Martin guitars: the Austro-German style Martin Guitar and the Spanish style Martin Guitar, plus 45 two-page color profiles of important guitars.

Inventing the American Guitar: The Pre-Civil War Innovations of C.F. Martin and His Contemporaries, edited by Robert Shaw and Peter Szego, www.halleonard.com.