A music shop on a sleepy street in the coal region is one of the top retailers in the country for high-end Martin Guitars.

But even among the world-class acoustic guitars at Maury’s Music, one stands apart from the others.The OM-45 De Luxe authentic 1930 guitar, one of only 11 in the world, is a handmade recreation of an 85-year-old design. Built with wood from an endangered rainforest tree, it lists for $99,999.Maury’s is currently selling it for the discount price of $72,999.“People who know Martin’s history know, the further you go back, the more coveted it is. Some of the people highest up in the company would tell you this is one of the most collectible Martins they’ve made, if not ever, certainly in a long time,” Maury Rutch, the store’s owner, said.How did a six-figure guitar make its way to Coaldale? Equal parts hard work and luck. Maury’s is one of only 10 companies in the United States that are branded with "Certified Online" status. The retailers had a chance to enter a lottery to get one of the coveted guitars, which Maury’s won. But it wasn’t guaranteed.“You had to be a strong enough dealer with good enough credit and a good enough track record,” he said.The De Luxe takes its design from the original 1930 instrument. It is believed only 10 of those exist, and they have been auctioned off for hundreds of thousands of dollars.It’s possible that this limited edition re-creation could someday sell for that much.While much of the guitar’s value comes from the fact that it’s a limited edition, it’s also meant to be played. Rutch said that while guitars typically get better sound as the wood ages, the De Luxe sounds great right away.“I haven’t done a blind test, but to my memory, it’s the most impressive, most responsive new guitar I’ve ever played,” Rutch said.Like he does with most of the Martin Guitars sold at Maury’s, Rutch made the 40-mile trip to Nazareth to pick it up himself.But you won’t find it in the Coaldale store. “Due to the value of this special instrument, our OM-45 DeLuxe is stored off-site in a climate-controlled secure location,” Rutch said.As an online retailer, it enables Rutch to fill orders for customers faster than Martin certified online dealers located across the country. As a result, they actually sell more guitars to customers on the West Coast than they do in this area.“If you ask me and ask somebody in California, ‘Get me this guitar,’ we can get it sometimes 10 days faster than them,” he said.Rutch, a longtime guitar player himself, decided to open his own store in Coaldale 2003. The goal, he said, was providing a guitar shop that sold what he wanted as a player. But he quickly realized that online sales were the key to keeping the business successful.When he asked Martin to become a dealer, the company said they would have to check and see if he was close to any competitors’ territory.“I described where we are, they said. ‘You’re not near anything. You can have the dealership right away,’” he said.Online buyers from around the country always ask the same question, “Where is Coaldale?” Some even want to make the trip. He usually starts by mentioning Jim Thorpe, then Allentown, but few of them know anything other than Philadelphia.“When they come in through all this rolling farmland, almost no one ever expects what they see when they get to our door,” Rutch said of Coaldale.And he is hoping that one of the customers making that trip leaves with one of the most coveted acoustic guitars made.For more information on the OM-45, visit

www.MaurysMusic.com.Maury’s Music is open by appointment. It can be reached by phone at 610-871-1673 or online at maurysmusic.com.