Road worn Martin D-35!

[Grahame Myers]

Hi all

Before I go any further, a few words to Martin guitars here in Germany: they're pretty rare, and 70's Martins are worshiped as Gods. It may seem hard to believe to all you guys in the USA, who probably repair 10 Martins a month, but I'm lucky to see one once a year :-) But I got a D-35 in a couple of weeks ago from a mate of mine. It's a '75 sunburst, and has had a hard life: He bought it from a street busker from Luxemburg who needed the money, it's been gigged all over Europe, and it shows! It's pretty beat-up, finish cracks, neck binding cracked in several places, evidence of a badly-repaired fingerboard crack, etc, etc

I had to start somewhere, so I started with the top belly, and the bridge rotation. 

I humidified the body for a week and a half, and then installed a JLD Bridge Doctor. So far, so good. 

It also needs neck reset, and the neck has too much relief. I'm comfortable with the neck reset, and, although I've never done a compression refret on a Martin, I've done plenty on old Hoyers and Framus's, for the same reason, they don't have adjustable truss rods either.

But anyway, my mate came round to the shop today, and we were discussing the job. And then he said:" couldn't you take the square tube out, and install a normal (adjustable) truss rod? "

Well, why not? Or isn't it a good idea? Has anyone here ever done this? How did you remove the old rod, and what did you use for a truss rod? How big is the square tube compared to a truss rod? (I've never seen one for real, just pictures).

Are there any other caveats to be considered before I plunge in, feet first?

I've attached a few pics of the old girl underneath.

Grahame

[Paul Breen]

A fingerboard leveling/ compression re-fret should get your relief back in shape with a lot less effort than adding an adjustable truss rod. If I'm not mistaken and I might be, Martin's U channel adjustable rod may be very close in size. You could always fill the channel and re-slot it too.

Have you checked the bridge saddle location? Martin let a lot of these out the door in the 70's with the bridge in the wrong place. I just did a 72 D-35 a few months ago and it's bridge (saddle) was off almost an eighth of an inch.

[Ned Knepp]

Grahame,
I haven't removed one of these but I do have a neck from a Martin 12 string with a square tube rod. It is placed right under the fingerboard but I don't know if they are all like his or even if there is a difference between the 12 string and the 6 string ( but I doubt that). I got this from my Brother so I don't know much about it but I think he said it was a smashed guitar from the early '70s.

In one of the other threads someone mentioned the idea of pulling the rod, filling the slot then cut a new slot to install an adjustable rod. Hope it helps a little.

BTW, it looks to be about 3/8 of an inch square.

Ned

[Grahame Myers]

Ned
Thanks for putting the pic of the square rod up for me to look at, it looks to be a lot larger than an adjustable truss rod. I've decided to leave it in, and do a compression re fret if necessary.
But since today I have other problems: after removing the frets, which needed to be replaced anyway, I started to separate the fretboard from the top prior to removing the neck. Just as I worked my palette knife up to the 14th fret, the finger board split in the middle. Grand Malheur!... or in my best German: scheiße!
It has been repaired (badly) sometime in the past, and the crack runs all the way up to the 10th fret. Looking at the big picture, I think a new finger board is the best solution, with new frets, and new binding. Maybe it's for the best anyway, I can straighten the neck before I glue the finger board up, and save work with the fret job. It's developing into one of those jobs where one thing leads to another, which leads to another etc, etc.....I love being a Luthier.....:-)

Grahame

[Ned Knepp]

I understand how things can snowball and in the end you still have to figure out how to get paid.

Ned

[Jim Bancroft]

With the neck off the guitar, you can slip a carbon fiber rod, and glue it with epoxy, inside the square tube. It will help keep it straight and also stiffen it.
I use it myself and it does work. Carbon fiber rods are available from Stew Mac, and they may have further info. on the procedure.
I pretty much do the procedure on all Martin's with the hollow square tub whether they need it or not.
Refretting with larger tang wire can help, but I wouldn't remove the square tub and replace with an adjustable rod, as I like to keep an instrument as original as possible. Also installing an adjustable rod will lower the value.

Also the cracked fretboard should be repairable, I'd guess, Work some ebony dust and superglue into the crack and I'm sure you can make it hard to see.
Jim

[Grahame Myers]

I've already decided to replace the fretboard completely, as it was split right up to the 7th fret, the extent of the damage first became apparent as I was removing the fretboard prior to removing the neck. From the 14th to 20th fret it was split right through, and fell apart in two halves as soon as it was separated from the top. so I'm going to start from scratch: new ebony 'board, new binding(which was cracked in several places anyway), and new pearl dot inlays. I already have the parts from SM, I ordered them on Wednesday, and they were here on Friday, the usual fantastic SM service!
Funnily enough, the neck is pretty flat now, without the fretboard, and without any string tension, so I'm hoping that with a new fretboard and a good fret job it'll be pretty straight without a carbon rod, although I'm a bit uneasy now about not installing a carbon rod, as you have sown the seeds of doubt :-) It'll be a nightmare when the neck bends up into too much relief when I string it up, I guess I can still install a carbon rod if it proves necessary before I finally glue the neck in.
I have almost no experience with Martins, as I said at the start of this post, here in Germany they're as rare as hens teeth, and I've never had one in the shop that needed so much work. Maybe I'll order some carbon rods just in case. I've just read the Trade secrets newsletter in which Dan Erlewine shows how to go about it. Is his method OK, or are there any caveats otherwise? Thanks for your help

Grahame

[William F.Eden]

Grahame I always prestress the neck when i go to glue the fret board back on any thing with a squar rod in the neck. It seems to work the best for me. P.S. you are a lot lucker than I am with your delivey from S.M. I live next door in Canada and it takes them three weeks to make a delivery to my place good luck Bill.'''''''''''''''''''

[Grahame Myers]

Bill
I always specify DHL 3 Day express delivery after my experiences with the "normal" shipping: One time I ordered some stuff and waited..and waited...and waited. After 8 weeks I rang up SM, and they said, OK, we'll send it off again. After 2 weeks I got the second delivery, and two weeks after that, the first shipment they'd sent off! Nearly 14 weeks after they'd shipped it! It looked like it'd been round the world twice, with stickers on it from Air New Zealand, repair tape from Australia and Germany, and I don't know what else. And then the hassle of sending it back to SM, and claiming the customs duty back etc. After that experience I only use DHL 3 Day, as you can track it every inch of the way. I mostly order on Friday evening, SM sends it off that day(as it's afternoon there), and then I follow it with the tracker over the weekend, and then wait for the delivery courier between 11 and 13.00 Monday, you can set your watch by it! Funnily enough 3 Day is often cheaper than the normal shipping to Germany, or at the worst just a few €uros more. Go figure....

Grahame

[Jim Bancroft]

Without string tension the necks will generally go back to straight. with tension they will bow again, that is why I glue in the carbon fiber rod. Refretting with oversize fret wire can help too.

Jim

[Grahame Myers]

Jim
I already bit the bullet, and ordered some carbon rods from SM. I hope they'll be here tomorrow. I thought it was better to err on the safe side, can't do any harm. I'm looking forward to the whole restoration, I love bringing old instruments back to life and seeing the smile on the owners faces the first time they play it after it's finished :-)

Grahame