1932 Martin 00-17 repair photo-documentation

[Stephen Boyd]

Hello Frets gang! 

I wanted to share an old "barn find" of a badly damaged old Martin guitar.  I could not resist the charm of this instrument despite its violent past life.  I would like to share some before, during and after pictures of the guitar.  Let's get right down to the brass tax of the before stage:

From across the room we have a normal looking 1932 00-17 from the [first] golden age of guitars!

upon closer scrutiny we have discovered ventilation adequate for a cool breeze or perhaps  a way for the dog to enjoy your favorite song!  Ouch!  That hurt!

If we call this a hairline crack, then it came from Delilah or Rapunzel!

One nice thing about holes in guitars is you can see inside!

Another inside view:

Well there you have it..  The story from the owner of this instrument follows.  He bought it when he was a kid in 1971 and left it in his room [where it was obviously tripped over, crushed, perhaps used as a baseball bat, etc] and only resurfaced at his mother's home recently.  He did not have the cash or passion to resurect this instrument from damnation so he offered it to me for sale... and being the fool for damsels in distress, I grabbed it in an impulse manner to learn the art of guitar repair on...  After getting a new job and realizing I have NOT the skills to do this right, I comissioned a local luthier to make the structural repairs only, and decide on cosmetics and finish later.  

Feel free to comment on my insanity... I won't be insulted.

Steve

[Stephen Boyd]

Oh... he bought it at the Alameda, CA flea market for $30 in 1971 to give you some pricing perspective... and no.. I didn't get it for that although I offered him 10 times that amount with no success.  ;-)

[Eric Steven Johansen]

With some tender care you sure can save this one, and a worthwhile task I must say. The back needs to come off so you can access those cracks from the inside first as the sides need to be coaxed back into original positions and reinforced, only then can you attempt replacement of missing wood. I won't go into a tutorial as Frank has some as well as I'm sure Google search will bring more, suffice it to say this one should be done by a qualified luthier. Best of luck and keep the post going with more photos, they are excellent.

[Stephen Boyd]

Thanks for the reply.  The guitar is currently in the hands of the professional.  I have asked the guys in his shop to snap some photos of the guitar in various phases to document the process, so we'll see what they do.  There were parts of the guitar where the top was separating from the sides, so I imagine that due to the age, removing the back with some steam would be easy, assuming animal hide glue was used in the construction. 

I didn't mention that the guitar [even with its current damaged condition] tunes up to pitch fine and plays quite nice with steel strings!  The neck is nice and straight and thick.  I am pretty excited to bring this thing to a local porch with a nice fresh cup of espresso and a fiddle player!

[Ron frazier]

You are a sucker like me!
Ron

[Kerry Krishna]

 Stephen, we don't need to hear what shop, but I would love to know the price quote. Are they replacing the side?