Eric and Dana showed the prototype to Dick Boak (now Head of Artist Relations and Publicity) at Martin in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.  Dick was sold on the idea and, in turn, he persuaded C. F. "Chris" Martin IV to undertake a collaborative production project between the Martin factory and Bourgeois.  (Chris had recently taken over the helm at Martin after his grandfather, C. F. Martin III, who had helped design and launch the original OMs, passed away in 1986).  Schoenberg's idea right from the start was to introduce Bourgeois' 'hand-voicing' of the top of the guitar into the Martin production-line process, thus maximizing the guitar's sonic potential.

        C. F. Martin & Co., of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, built two Research & Development models of an OM Cutaway, bearing the serial numbers "R & D 274" (Indian Rosewood) and "R & D 275" (Brazilian Rosewood).

        Dana Bourgeois sold #274 on consignment via the Vintage Fret Shop in New Hampshire during the spring of 1990, where it was purchased by David Morse of Corning, New York.  In 2003 it sold at auction, and was acquired by Players Vintage Instruments of Inverness, California.

        R & D #275, pictured below, is owned by Tom Gladstone in Tennesee, who purchased it new from Eric Schoenberg's Music Emporium in Boston in 1986.  It was built by long-time Martin luthier Donald Dech, although the label states otherwise.

        According to Martin Historian Mike Longworth, Martin built two "Schoenberg Soloist" OM Cutaway Prototypes bearing the serial numbers 467,821 and 467,822.  (The present whereabouts of these instruments is unknown).  However, in 2006 Eric Schoenberg received a consignment guitar in his shop--a Soloist with the serial number 467,588.  This Soloist, believed to be the earliest, features a Martin "torch" inlay on the headstock (done by Dave Nichols, who was on contract to Martin at the time).