A term used to describe large sized acoustic guitars that were known for their formidable volume and booming bass. While considered a generic term today, the Dreadnought guitar was an original creation of C. F. Martin & Co. 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 that was also a leading music retail chain in the area. The Ditson Company went out of business in the late 1930′s, and Martin incorporated the Dreadnought into its line of guitars. Today, the model is a dominant factor in the Martin line, and every maker of acoustic guitars, both domestic and foreign, has introduced a version of the original Martin design.