A simple bridge replacement becomes a major rebuild

[Jim Creech]

Back in November an elderly gentleman called and asked if I could pet a new bridge on his Martin because the strings were too high and he wasn't too pleased with the fellow that had repaired his guitar the last time. "Sure" say's I! "Bring it on!"
I know better than to agree to a repair without looking at it first but with Christmas coming I figured a few extra bucks couldn't hurt and a bridge replacement is a simple task. Famous last words! A few days later this old guy shows with a 1927 Martin "0" series guitar that someone had butchered. The bridge was not original and had been bolted on and the screw holes plugged but the man said he had dug the plugs out with a pochet knife so he could tighten the screws. The fingerboard had been replaced with that red colored wood that you find on cheap entry level instruments. The binding had been poorly replaced and there were bracing issues. The gentleman said that he was not concerned about appearance but just wanted the guitar playable. There were no strings on the guitar but the neck angle appeared to be OK. The bridge was too tall and the soft plastic saddle had been filed down to almost flush with the bridge. OK i says and proceeded to make a new rosewood bridge with a bone saddle. While waiting for the glue to dry I took the liberty of treating the red fingerboard with 20% nitric acid in an attempt to at least make it look more like rosewood or ebony. The next day I strung it up and began a setup. Before I could get the strings to pitch, the top bellied up behind the bridge and collapsed in front of the bridge. At this point the bridge was at about a 20 degree angle. This does not bode well for me so I called the old gentleman and had him come out and see for him self what the problems were. After visiting for a while I found out that the person who had been doing repairs was "kinda new at guitar repair". He had removed the top once before to repair the numerous cracks and broken braces, replace the bridge plate and patch the back. Further investigation revealed that the top had been sanded down to about .060" to .070". Way too thin! At this point we decided to replace the entire top. This is when I started taking pictures. The attached photos pretty much tell the story.


IMG_2519.jpgIMG_2522.jpgIMG_2523.jpgIMG_2527.jpgIMG_2532.jpgIMG_2555.jpgIMG_2559.jpgIMG_2560.jpg I will add additional photo's and documentary as work progresses if anyone is interested.

[Michael Mahan]

love to see how you clean up & repair this Martin .
Never could play but love looking & touching these great instruments

[Shawn Pixley]

Quite a basketcase. It seems almost a total rebuild. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if you weren't having to undo the first "repair." What the first "luthier" did to the top is criminal.

[Jim Creech]

Next Step: Now that the top has been removed (rather unceremoniously I might add) I'm convinced that a complete replacement is in order. The following photos will bring us up to date. I must ,at this time, give credit where due. I called Keith Outten and he graciously agreed to thickness sand the top blanks for me as well as join and rout the rosette grooves on his CNC router as I do not have a thickness sander and was concerned about possible tear out if run through a planer. Also , his CNC machine could rout the grooves more accurately than I could using a dremel tool router base. Well done Keith and many thanks! I'll have you building guitars one of these days. The photos show the top haves joined, rosette routed and installed and the X-bracing installed. My next concern is the tone bar and other bracing. According to Martin, guitars of this era were built for nylon or silk and steel strings. In the late 30's additional bracing was added to the 00 and larger bodied models to accommodate the strain of steel strings. I have not voiced a small body guitar, only larger Dreadnaught styles, so this should prove to be somewhat interesting.IMG_2529.jpgIMG_2530.jpgIMG_2565.jpgIMG_2567.jpgIMG_2568.jpgIMG_2569.jpg

[Julie Moriarty]

Nice work Jim! I'm sure your customer will be happy. As for the other "luthier" , I'm guessing he won't be working on this guitar anymore.

Keep us posted!

[Jim Creech]

I decided that the best approach to the remaining bracing was just to use the same pattern that Martin used on the "00" series. It worked well for them and who am I to try to improve on their design. All I need to do now is some final tweeking and clean up and the new top will be ready to install. Once the clean-up is done I will let the top (and me) rest for a few days before gluing up. This will give me some time to contemplate the next two projects that just came in. The things people do to their instruments never ceases to amaze me! At least I will always have some kind of challenge to overcome.IMG_2573.jpgIMG_2575.jpgIMG_2584.jpg

[Dan Hintz]

Staples and bondo... awesome

Jim, you're welcome to drop by and use the CNC for as long as you like... all I ask is you teach me how to do what you do Of course, the drive is a bit of a bear... 3.5 hours versus Keith at, what, 10-15 minutes?

[Jim Creech]

Thank's Dan but I don't know how to turn one of those things on much less make it do what I want. Actually, for the most part, instrument repair, like boat building, is not as difficult as it looks. I started out years ago buying cheap yard sale guitars, tearing them apart and putting them back together, making them playable and giving them away. The truth be known, the higher end instruments are actually easier to repair than the cheap stuff. Ultimately it's all woodworking in some form or another.

PS: Ole' Keith is about 1 hr+ from me. Maybe one of these days I can get enough time to get over there and learn how to operate one of things but you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks!

[Julie Moriarty]

I decided that the best approach to the remaining bracing was just to use the same pattern that Martin used on the "00" series. It worked well for them and who am I to try to improve on their design.
IMG_2573.jpg

Jim, you have a good eye for detail, and, I'm guessing, a lot of patience. Thanks to you, I'm learning what goes into acoustic guitar making.

Maybe someday I'll have the courage to venture into acoustic guitars.

[Jim Creech]

Thank's Julie,
Yes you do need an eye for detail as well as patience. Not having both oars in the water is also a plus! Go ahead and give acoustics a go. You will learn some novel approaches to doing things. Especially in the repair end. The only thing holding you back is thin air and fear. Both easily overcome.

[Jim Creech]

Finally got back to this guitar. Top glued on and routed for binding which I hope to get installed this weekend.IMG_2589.jpgIMG_2626.jpg Clamping cauls are somewhat crude but effective.

[Jesse Busenitz]

Owww! Fine job of repair.... What radius did you use on the top?

[Keith Outten]

Jim,

Its hard to believe that is the same guitar body that was in my shop a few weeks ago. It looks great.....can't wait to see it when its finished.
.

[Jim Creech]

The top radius is 25'. The braces were planed almost flat in the middle to sort of compensate for the approx 160 lbs tension that will be concentrated in this area when tuned to pitch. In theory this will bring the top to a nice curve with out a bulge behind the bridge. It's worked for me before.

[Jim Creech]

After some delays I finally got the binding on and scraped flush. Next step- mask off for the bridge and fingerboard and begin the finish prccess.IMG_2642.jpgIMG_2650.jpgIMG_2651.jpgIMG_2671.jpgIMG_2672.jpgIMG_2673.jpg