Martin’s
Guitar Repairs
Martin’s
Guitar Repairs
This is an appropriate place to boast about our long distance customer
base!
Thanks to the web, enthusiasts from all over the world are
able to find MGR - and we’ve had customers from several
European countries - but the all time never-to-be-beaten
accolade goes to Murray who sent me an email - “I have a
Martin D35 circa 1976 that needs some work done on it
Possibly a re-fret and maybe a neck reset as well. The
pickguard will also need replacing. I live overseas and will be
in the UK for one month from Dec 20th. Would it be possible
to get anything done in that time?”
Of course the answer is ‘Sure can!” And Murray duly arrived
at the workshop straight from.... New Zealand!
Murray had lived in the tropics for a while with his beloved
Martin D35 and the humidity and temperature had affected
the glue holding the pickguard so that not only did it curl up,
the stress cracked the top as well.
The bridge had been replaced in the distant past and was
over high which meant the action on this non truss-rodded
guitar was fiercely high (check out the glue deposits in the
body - you’d never get a guitar back from MGR with glue
squeeze out. You can just spot the loose back brace in the photo as well.
So - what needed to be done?
•Glue crack in top and reinforce with spruce patch
•Glue loose braces
•Restore ebony fingerboard, refret, stone & recrown
•Plane top of ebony bridge and make good
•Restore bridge pin holes and rechamfer
•Fabricate and fit new bone saddle
•Make & fit new pickguard
•Refurbish and polish guitar
•Set up with Martin light 12-54 strings
Murray is back in the land of the hobbits now, happily playing his rejuvenated guitar - it was a close thing but we got it back to him on
schedule although we would have preferred to keep the guitar in the shop for a week or so longer - after ‘surgery’ we find that the
instrument takes a few days to resettle into a new configuaration which gives us a chance to make some final adjustments before
handing the guitar back to the customer. The repair set him back £210.
We hope this gives you an idea of how we try and help you fix your beloved guitar. Give us a call - we’re sure we can help!
