Another Martin Guitar Repair in Chicago
It’s hard to say how many times we’ve repaired a guitar that was damaged by airline baggage handling. It’s a big number though. This Martin 000-15 had a rough flight and split open like a can of beans. Unfortunately the damage was bad enough that sizeable pieces of the side were missing completely. For this repair, we needed to repair the cracks, replace the missing areas, and touch it up to make it look like it never happened. Make sure your seat is in the upright position; this ride gets bumpy.
Here’s a good look at the damage to this guitar. There’s a good size top crack there, but next to that huge side split you almost don’t see it. To keep all the crack’s from slipping under clamp pressure, we want to get all of the main breaks glued up at the same time. This means four hands on the guitar, pushing from the inside, pushing from the outside, applying glue, and setting clamps. (Not to mention one set of hands snapping a quick picture or two.)
After letting the glue set up we removed the clamps and found things looking a little less scary already.
After replacing the missing mahogony, we overspray the area so the repair lines are less visible. Then we draw in grain lines, …
…match the side finish to the rest of the guitar, and apply a matted top coat. Add a fresh set of strings and “The Works” setup and this guitar is ready for a safe landing!
I know I should be impressed by the structural repairs, but the matching of those grain lines is stupefying!
I had to click back and forth between the before-and-after top coat pictures several times to see exactly where the fix was made, and I still can’t spot it.
GREAT work.
The owner must be delighted …
Hey Steve,
Very cool repair. Kinda makes me want to leave my HD with you for a refinish. Can’t wait to see you guys at Christmas time. I have connected with some musicians from college I will send you way.
Chris
Did this damage impact the tone of the instrument at all? Otherwise, phenomenal repair job.
Seeing the damage an airlines can do confirms my fearing of leaving my guitar with the baggage handlers.
Dan
A response to Dan’s question:
We take pains to make sure our repairs stay true to the original design, materials, and dimensions of any guitar. We make patches and internal support cleats as small and thin as possible so as to not impede good vibrations (apologies to Brian Wilson.) But the truth is, we’ll never really be able to compare before and after sounds on a repair like this because when it arrived it was broken to pieces and unplayable. When it left it looked and sounded great. An oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer might reveal slight changes in frequency response if you had a true “before” sample. But we and the customer felt it definitely passed the far more important ‘human ear test.’
[...] owner of this 1939 Martin 518 saw work we performed on another Martin and entrusted us to repair a lengthy side crack, separated bridge, and to reset the neck angle. [...]
wow really good job! that’s why i a not leaving my guitar in the cargo bay and leave to the baggage handler to mess up my guitar on the way to sweden so i’m carrying it by hand. yet again great job!
Like many of you, we’ve been enjoying Dave Carroll’s video that addresses this particular type of guitar injury. Be sure to watch the follow up too. Nicely played Mr. Carroll.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_X-Qoh__mw