Need Help ID'ing Acoustic Guitar

[Gary Fried]

I was wondering if anybody on this forum would have any insight on what type of guitar I have in my shop.  My customer came in with this guitar that desperately needs a neck reset among other things.  It is a bolt on neck and seems to have the heel recessed into the neck block like a taylor would have.  My customer claims that he had gotten this guitar from someone who claimed that it had something to do with Martin.  I have searched the internet and can't find any info on it as it has no branding. I have already loosened the neck bolt but, the neck doesn't budge.  I don't want to start trying to disassemble the guitar as the customer isn't sure that he wants to do the work.  I just can't imagine how the neck angle on this guitar would be set.  I know taylor uses shims but this instrument seems to be a one off and can't imagine an individual luthier going through the trouble to make a neck joint like this.   

Thanks, 

Gary

[Ned Knepp]

It's hard to get a read on the guitar overall with just three pictures but the neck block pretty much makes me think that there is not a strong chance this is a Martin. The depth and placement of the nut in the block also makes me think that there isn't a tenon on the neck at all so it's probably glued to the top of the body. Is there any sign of a extension on the neck under the fingerboard tongue? On a Taylor this is routed into the top of the guitar. 

 

What you show of the inside appears to be pretty clean. Maybe a kit?

[Gary Fried]

Hi Ned, 

Thanks for the reply.  There is no extension and in fact the fingerboard is glued to the top. I highly doubt that it is associated with Martin as well.  I just can't wrap my head around the fact that the heel is recessed like a Taylor.  I figure that a bolt on kit would just have a normal butt joint at the heel.  The work is pretty precise so it may had been a mass produced kit.  I don't think that there is a tenon on the neck either.  My problem is that my customer wants a new nut and saddle but I can't see making those for him when the guitar plays so poorly.  If the guitar had a butt joint resetting the neck would be easy and I wouldn't have any guess work.  

[Magnus Hultin]

An early Moon Guitar?

Jimmy Moon of Scotland?

 

[Magnus Hultin]

I was refering to the headstock inlay

 

[Greg Mirken]

There are several things about this guitar that say "Asian import" to me: the stark white binding, the pieced heel, the look of the kerfed lining, and the ply neckblock. The peghead inlay may be a modification. How much of the body is plywood?
This instrument has nothing whatever to do with the Martin Guitar Co.

[paul mehl]

just a thought. I am repairing a very early parlor guitar that needed a neck reset and I had an usually difficult time removing the

neck because it was not a dovetail joint but a joint like a violin neck with 1/4 inch of the sides of the heel glued into the neck

block cavity. Since this joint doesn't appear to be a tenon joint perhaps it was glued in like the one above and bolted on for

additional strength and also to make your repair life miserable.

[Phil Keener]

Sure looks like one of Jimmy Moon's guitars, but, the moon inlay in your photos seems to be a reverse image of  Moon Guitar's logo. Computer photo manipulation problem?

Send Jimmy an e-mail with photos and see what his response is.

By the way, that is Bryan Adams holding his new Moon guitar in the photo above.

http://www.moonguitars.co.uk/

Regards to all,

Phil

[Magnus Hultin]

And here is another famous face who has ordered a Moon guitar. But on this picture I think he is playing a "Moon Thomas Frazer Commemorative Guitar", a replica of a 1961 Levin Goliath (sold in US as Goya M-26).

 

 

 

 

[Tim Mace]

Looks like Ovangkol bolt...also if I had it and removed the neck I'd replace that hardware store bolt w/a better system...brass insert into neck w/flat head hex key type bolt.Less noticable, more reliable imo....