Articles tagged with: guitar repair.
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Nobody likes to see this. It’s the headstock of a Gibson SG and, as you can see, it’s broken. Ouch.
Something slightly unusual about this is that this guitar suffered a headstock break while still in its case. This is unusual but not unheard of. I’ve seen a few in my time (and I mention it in my general article about Broken Necks). It’s a real pain to hear this but even a good case might not protect your guitar in all circumstances. If you want to be even more safe, …
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The third and last article in the story of the restoration of a pre-’34 Martin guitar with a broken bridge. The first two parts of the Martin Custom Bridge Replacement cover removal of the broken bridge and the carving of a replacement.
The first step in getting this replacement back on the guitar is ‘fitting’ it to the guitar top. Like many of us, over the years, pretty much all guitars gain a bigger belly. Under a lot of tension from the strings, changes occur in the wood of a guitar. …
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This is second part of the story of replacing a broken bridge on a, rather lovely, pre-1934 Martin. This update is slightly tardy so feel free to catch up on part one (where we remove the broken bridge) first.
Done? All caught up? Splendid.
Now the broken bridge is off, this is how it all starts. You can see the removed bridge sitting on a block on Brazilian rosewood that will become its replacement. Brazilian rosewood is in extremely short supply and is very tightly controlled species as it was over-harvested for …
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This is a bit special. It’s a lovely, pre-war Martin. Actually, it’s pre-1934 if you want to get a little more precise (but only a little) – it’s fitted with bar frets.
It’s been through the wars a little and has, at some stage in the past had a long side-crack repaired. That repair has lasted some time from the look of it and doesn’t overly concern me.
What is a concern, however, is the bridge. The leading edge has cracked and broken off under string-tension. The owner saved the piece that …
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