Old Martin Restoration Question

[greyd]

I have stumbled across a 1932 Martin 0-18. The shaded top is in good shape with no cracks. The sides are a different story. There is alot or cracks throughout and it's missing a fair amount of mahogany. I need to remove the back so the cracks can be fixed and missing wood can be replaced. What is the best way to go about removing the back. Thanks for the help.

[Michael Lewis]

You might re think removing the back, only do that if it is really necessary. Got a pic? You might consider replacing the sides if there is significant loss of original material. It is also possible to patch the sides if they are not too bad. (pic) Hard to tell without seeing it. There are ways of working through the sound hole, with modern technology and new ideas we can do more than "they" used to.

[greyd]

Here are a few pics. The end block also is broken, which has been "repaired" poorly in the past. Thanks for any help on this.

[Ron Frazier]

Yes removing the back sounds good but remember that putting it back is a big job. I would repair the sides and refinish them. The big piece that is gone I would cut it longer and make it a football shape and straighten the other sides to get rid of the jagged edges. I would bend a piece to fit the piece that is gone cut into about the right shape than lay it on top of the side and mark around the replacement piece and cut to fit. Make the side piece thicker than the old piece so you can sand or scrape the repaired piece down flush.

You can get magnets from stew-Mack to put on the joint to make it fit the best you can. I would use a piece of 1/4x1.5 by 2 or 3 inches and hold the patch in and use the magnets on the out side. When you have it fit and in place supper glue the joints . You want to wax the magnets and iron so you wont have a permanent part there.

It can be done. Take your time.

I have a 1948 -018 and it looks perty tough but that is my favorite player.

Ron

[greyd]

So how do I go about removing the back. is there a tool i can get that would make the process easier? I willing to take the time and do the job right. thanks for the help

[Jim Bancroft]

I'd learn on a cheap guitar first, before I tackled this Martin.
If you have never done this before, you're probably going to make mistakes.

Jim

[Jim Bancroft]

I don't see any reason to remove the back to repair this guitar.
I wouldn't replace the side either, just patch it. Apply the patch from the outside.
You should be able to do everything through the sound hole.

The only difficult repair maybe repairing the cracked end block.

Without having the guitar in hand, all my comments are just speculation.

But, a very important thing to remember- "only remove the back if there is no other method that is humanly possible".

Jim

[Matt Haugen]

I am in agreement with all the others, in which I would do anything to not have to remove the back. If you decide to remove the back, I would recommend a pallet knife to get started and the seam seperation knife available through stewmac. An easy way to open the seam is to lay a thin piece of metal or wood veneer tight to the kerfed lining. Take your pallette knife and wrap it in aluminum foil, apply heat to the pallette knife, remove the foil and press the hot knife under the lining. It will melt through the glue and create an opening for you to start from. The reason to use the aluminum foil is so the pallette knife doesn't get dirty from the flame and you use the thin piece of metal or wood to keep the knife from scaring the back of the guitar. All I know is that this process worked perfectly for me on an old Gibson LG. It took me a few hours to remove the back and my wrist was hurting for about a week after. Good luck to you.

[Charlie Hoffman]

We faced a very similar situation with a 1934 000-18 (refered to us by Frank). We did remove the back and there is an extensive photo essay on my web site (this was also a feature article in two issues of Guitarmaker, the ASIA magazine.) Look here: http://www.hoffmanguitars.com/1934%20000-18.htm . I would be glad to answer any specific questions. For what its worth, Ron was able to do all the work and get the back on and the original binding on so cleanly that no touchup was necessary. I am pretty sure that this is the only repair in 38 years of work in this biz where we felt that removing the back was essential.

[Bruce Herrmann]

Charlie response is right on. You can also find a great write-up of this guitar's restoration in the Guild's magazine (I think that's where I saw it). Don't attempt this restoration without talking with Charlie or at least reading about the work done on the '34 000 they did. First class work done by real pros. They do prove that removing the back can be done in a very conservative way and with great results. It also requires great skill. Your guitar is valuable, consider what you do very carefully.
Best
Bruce