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Ancient Martin repair question (sorry, improperly posted 1st time round)

Hi Frank - I read with great interest your article on the restoration of your 1887 Martin parlor guitar. I recently inherited a very similar model, with very similar (though not so severe) issues (it too was strung with steel, and improperly stored for awhile). I'm in NYC, and had thought to drive out to Nazareth,PA to ask the folks at Martin about repairing my guitar. It's occurred to me though that, as with cars, the dealership isn't necessarily the best place to haul your beloved heirloom for rehab. Have any readers had good/bad experiences with the Martin repair dept?
As an aside, I'm a professional furniture maker/restorer, and was interested to see familiar techniques applied to very different ends. Really love the site and forum - thanks for the public service!

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WHAT STATE ARE YOU IN FRANK FORD FRIEND
I have a 1936 D 28 in need of a lot of repair. I was a Martin dealer at the time and they said that they were not interested in working on it. I found out that if you sent it in they would but found out that if the neck was broken ,peg head they would replace it with a new modern neck and if the bridge was bad off it would come and a new one applied. I ordered a set of fret purl square and they were bigger than the old so I sanded them down. I ordered a new bridge and it looks like a new bridge but the old one was about 1/8 " thick and i glued the new one on. I should have glued on the bottom of the old bridge and used it. I cant find the old one so I am stuck with this.

I restored this one and it is only worth 1/2 of what it would be but I only have about $2000.00 in it and it is mine.

Robro Ron
Right, thanks. I've heard a couple not-so-great stories about the Martin folks since I posted this question. I'm just going to have to hunt around NYC till I find a luthier I really trust to do the job right. Thanks again for the reply, and apologies if this wasn't the right place to post the question.

Andrew

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