Every now and then, one comes along that I just don't want to send back when the work is done. It's been a while since I fell for one this hard too... and this is admittedly an odd one. So what is it? Well, a tenor guitar. To pinpoint; 1928 Martin, Style 2-18 T.
C.F. Martin & Co. got into the tenor guitar market along with the other makers of the day, to offer banjo players an alternative sound without having to learn another instrument. They offered tenor guitars in several styles and sizes. I happen to own a Style 5-17 T from 1927, one year older, and quite a bit smaller. A size 5 body is a tiny little box, not much bigger than a baritone ukulele, size 2 is considerably bigger, longer scale, but still nowhere near the size of say, an 0, or 00- size. Just for perspective.
So I got this tenor guitar in... the bridge is crudely screwed to the top with two mismatched machine screws, and it's unbelievably dirty. There's also what I think is white wall paint spatters on it. The original Grover 'pancake' planetary tuners are tarnished up bad, but still there. It's got honest playing wear, but no real abuse. Not a single crack anywhere, not a loose brace to reglue, nothing. My instructions were simply to clean it up, and get it playable. Evaluating a guitar like this, you just never know sometimes what you might be getting into. That bridge had been screwed to the top and under tension for so long, that it was too warped to go back on without flattening. That old ebony was so brittle and crumbly, there was no way I was going to try heat-pressing it. I ended up building up the bottom with ebony veneer and then sanding it flat. (had I not built it up, the 'ears' would have been paper-thin...) I filled in the missing chunks and plugged the screw holes with epoxy and black dust. The saddle slot was a mess too, same treatment there, but I had to make a form of brass to 'pour' the epoxy against. That was a lot of trouble to save an original bridge. For what it's worth, Martin will sell you a new one, if you can provide exact measurements. I have on occasion called and waited on hold, and when the lady came back, she had a replacement bridge for another odd-sized old Martin guitar I was working on.
Plugging the holes in the top was an easier fix... I mixed some spruce fibers with epoxy and packed it tightly into the screw holes, backed-up from the inside with masking tape. I doubt they ever knew how close they came to destroying the top of this guitar - those two screws missed the X- braces by millimeters. The sight gave me a shudder. A screw through one of them at that point would have compromised the structural integrity of the top. But the repair was easy, and solid, and wouldn't even be visible without an inspection mirror and light. Now that there was a flat place to glue the bridge back, and a repaired bridge to put back, it was time for glue and clamps.
Martin didn't start using plastic bindings or purfling inlays until midway through 1932. Note how all the trim here is wood, even the soundhole rosette. Looking around inside these old Martin guitars is just fascinating to me. Those sculpted braces, the kerfed linings, everything inside here is basically untouched for 95 years. There is as much detail inside as outside, really.
Back with finishing touches in a while...
