Alembic Guitars Club

Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: edwardofhuncote on September 12, 2017, 11:13:29 AM

Title: Recent Shop Project
Post by: edwardofhuncote on September 12, 2017, 11:13:29 AM
Thought I'd share a few pictures of a very sweet little Martin guitar that came through the shop this past week. It's a beautiful example of a Style 0-18... maybe the cleanest one I've ever seen, owed largely to having been a one-owner guitar, bought new in 1968.

This one only needed some minor repair and setup... the pickguard had started to peel off, a common problem with older Martin guitars. The pickguards prior to 1985 were glued directly to the bare spruce tops and then finished over with lacquer. As the plastic shrunk, often the glue held so fast that it would pull apart the grain of the spruce, causing the infamous 'B-string crack'. In this case, it only rolled up around the edges. One little place had some splinters that had to be glued back down before brushing some lacquer on the bare wood, giving a base to stick the self-adhesive replacement pickguard. The tedious part (if you're wondering) is trimming it to fit exactly in the partially sunken footprint of the original.

After that, just a good buffing with some Meguiar's #7 brought the old finish on this one back to like-new. Some 0000 steel wool burnished the frets back to shiny, followed by a dab of Old English lemon oil to the fingerboard and bridge. Nothing left to do but re-string with some TI Plectrum lights.

Of course, I'll have to keep this one under observation for a few days... you know, make sure it sounds right and all...  ::)   ;D
Title: Re: Recent Shop Project
Post by: Philip-M-Bass on September 12, 2017, 11:23:50 AM
Great guitar Edward!!

For a small body they have a very big sound!

Title: Re: Recent Shop Project
Post by: edwardofhuncote on September 12, 2017, 11:41:39 AM
A few in-progress pics...  :)
Title: Re: Recent Shop Project
Post by: cozmik_cowboy on September 12, 2017, 02:24:06 PM
Sweet!  Loves me some 000!

Peter
Title: Re: Recent Shop Project
Post by: edwardofhuncote on September 12, 2017, 02:33:39 PM
Sweet!  Loves me some 000!

Peter

You would definitely like this one, Coz... it's like a scaled-down version of my OM-18, but with better balance. I've been playing it ever since I got home today. I'm gonna' miss this one!  :(
Title: Re: Recent Shop Project
Post by: growlypants on September 12, 2017, 06:00:12 PM
You crack me up, man!!  (Keeping it for a few days, just to make sure everything's alright!!) Nice work.