Martin 00-18 (1973) pickguard curling -- again!

[Catalina Cariaga]

Hi Mr. Ford,

 

A few years back (I think 7 years ago) you re-glued and flattened the black pickguard on my Martin 00-18. It's been fine all these years.  But just last week I noticed that it started to curl up again!  Is this going to happen every few years?  I  have not had the guitar in any extreme temps -- although we don't leave our heating on when we are at work.  The cat and guitars might have been a little nippy -- but not freezing.

(You also did the same job on my Martin 5-18 (1958)  celluloid pickguard.  It's fine. )

 

Thanks for your time.

 

Catalina

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

Celluloid looses its solvent all its life. If you already did it once, I guess you have a nasty one.

[Frank Ford]

Yep, those black guards shrink a good deal more than the tortoise celluloid ones, so it's predictable that they will curl again and again, eventually shrinking so much there's an unsightly bare edge all around them.  The time between regluing is really variable and there's not much you can do about it except the obvious - don't store the instrument in a hot parked car. 

 

Once it gets really bad, the only logical alternative is replacement.

[Catalina Cariaga]

Thanks Frank!  I brought my guitar to one local shop in Berkeley -  and although they are great at other repairs they were not confident about re-gluing.  But alas, I brought it down the street to Blue Note Music and we had consensus on deciding to replace the original guard with a new modern Martin self-adhesive guard. He explained the process of removal and preping etc.  I think he will do a great job.  I'll put the original in an envelope in my case -- for the sake of antiquity.  I WILL miss coming to your shop and browsing Gryphon Strings. Hope your health is good.