Martin D 18 Resoration

[tippie53]

I had this guitar come into my shop and needed some extensive work. The instrument was in a closet for 290 years that in itself is remarkable as it is from the 1970's. The bridge was replaced , it had a reslot and redrill for the misplaced saddle from the 70's. The extensive bridge plate was pulled , after that I started to document this repair as it may be interesting you some of you. The bridge came off nice but it had some damage hidden. the top had so much pulled grain and over sanding from the previous bridge work I decided to restore the area for a proper repair Int the first 2 photos you can see the shaved bridge .
and you will see some of the damage

[tippie53]

In this series you will see the progression of the repair. I filled the slot , then I plugged the holes. I had replaced the plate so I could work down to that . The plugs were inlayed and glued in , then I sanded things flat. Once that was done I had to put in a longer fill strip . I did it this was so that the repairs would be more stable. I have the plugs under the fill and this actually makes the top stronger . I did this in 3 steps.

[tippie53]

Next I had to make a new Brazilian Rosewood bridge . Once the bridge is final shaped and I have the neck reset I can slot the bridge for the saddle and drill the new pin holes. As you can see , if you do this 1 step at a time , you can get a nice result and restore structural integrity to the top. The new bridge will look as good as new. With the new smaller maple plate it will help the sound . I hope to finish this up within the week. This neck will be compression fretted. That is how you adjusted the non adjustable truss rods. This one by the way is a sq tube rod.

[Darryl Young]

Wow! Thanks for posting this John! I (and I'm sure most others here) can learn a lot from these type posts. I sure appreciate you taking the time to do this.

Please keep documenting, thanks!

[tippie53]

Glad to do it. I will continue the posting will the guitar is done

[Tom West]

John: For 290 years you say.....! I've been noticing some of your posts here and in other forums lately and am really starting to enjoy your sense of humor. I'm not sure if it was always there and I missed it or if it's a new trend for yourself. Keep it up, it adds to the enjoyment of the posts. Nice looking repair by the way .Cheers.
Tom

[tippie53]

I have been posting for longer than I care to admit. I know there is a lot of interest in this type of work so I hope I can educate . Not just for people that want to do this work bit those that need to have work done . That way people understand why things may cost what they do and what is a good or bad repair decision.
In this case , it was the shaved bridge that just doesn't make sense. Now the bridge needs to be replaced. Work that was done was not up to par in in this case caused more harm . Information on the internet is often less than perfect . I hope this helps and we can all learn from each other.
Learn from others mistakes, You can't make them all yourself.
thanks Tom, hope you like it here

[Tony_in_NYC]

John,
Had someone cut the saddle slot INTO the spruce top?
Is your new bridge a little oversized compared to the original one? I assume yes, and I know why, I am just asking to be sure.

[tippie53]

yes they slotted into the top. My new bridge us not oversized as I could footprint it to the guitar. I didn't final shape it but I used an original bridge to make this Brazilian one.

[Freeman]

I'll enjoy this, John, since I am the owner of both a 74 D18 and an 80 D12-28 which have been hot rodded a bit. There was nothing wrong with mine except that both were ready for resets - however since those were the "over built" years I decided to have some internal work done. The results were dramatic and I always kick myself for not recording the D18 before so I coulp post a comparison.