2014 Martin Custom X Series D :: high pressure laminate explosion

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2014 Martin Custom X Series D :: high pressure laminate explosion

This X series Martin Dreadnought has high pressure laminate (HPL, Formica, etc) back and sides.  The guitar slipped off of a strap and fell onto a hardwood floor.  The back broke loose from the treble side (neck-to-tail block) through the linings.  The first back brace was also split on the bass side.  Here everything is being glued back together with a combination of spool clamps, cam clamps, scissor jack and brace jack.  Luckily this was not solid mahogany, else the damage would have been much worse.

2001 Gibson SG :: broken screws

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2001 Gibson SG :: broken screws

I needed to fabricate a couple custom screw extractors to cleanly remove two broken strap button screws.  The extractors are made from stainless steel tubing sized to fit over the screw with teeth cut into the end.  I sourced the tubing from McMaster-Carr.  The extractors are run counterclockwise in a drill to not risk driving the screw deeper if it grabs.  The broken screws can be seen here.

Look for a blog post coming soon with more details on this guitar.

Carvin Cobalt 750S [5.1 lbs] :: side preamp convert Fishman to Baggs Stagepro Anthem

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Carvin Cobalt 750S [5.1 lbs] :: side preamp convert Fishman to Baggs Stagepro Anthem

This player wanted to swap out a Fishman Prefix Plus-T to an LR Baggs Stagepro Anthem.  The Fishman side-mounted preamp is considerably larger than the Baggs Stagepro preamp so a step-down conversion ring was fabricated.  The adapter was made from black / white / black pickguard stock for flexibility and durability and the edges were beveled for a nice clean look.  I used the original mounting holes in the side so the old Fishman preamp can be cleanly reinstalled if desired in the future (no extra holes).  The Baggs Anthem system combines an undersaddle pickup with an internal microphone (mounts to the bridge plate) and both sources can be mixed via the preamp.

1993 Martin 000-16 :: top crack

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1993 Martin 000-16 :: top crack

'Tis the season of low humidity up here in the northeast and this Martin fell prey.  I humidified the crack closed and then glued the crack as seen above.  The crack will be further reinforced with small cleats from underneath.

The bridge was removed here.

2002 Gibson ES-333 [8.4 lbs] :: intermittent pickup & broken tuners

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2002 Gibson ES-333 [8.4 lbs] :: intermittent pickup & broken tuners

The neck pickup was cutting in and out on this hollowbody so that usually means you have fish the electronics out through the f-hole or pickup rout to clean / repair.  To my surprise I found an access cover in the back!  This is the first Gibson hollowbody with an access panel to come across my bench. As much as I don't like the idea of them on hollows, it makes resoldering this broken neck pickup lead and cleaning the pots much, much easier.  The bass-side tuners were also previously repaired by someone supergluing the covers.  This is always a temporary fix and the time had come to replace them.  Tuning is now much more stable with a new set of tuners.

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