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1955 Martin D-28 Repair
http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10137&t=51283
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Author:  Pmaj7 [ Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

Nice work! Just curious, where do you take the action measurements from? Looks like you are using the fractions, but not on the 12th?

New username, same Pat Mac

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sat Dec 22, 2018 3:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

From the photos it looks to me like Dan set the action at 6/64" low E and 5/64" hi E at the 12th fret. Pretty typical for a blue grass player. For the folks that can handle it I set them at 5 and 4.

Author:  DanKirkland [ Sun Dec 23, 2018 10:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

Pmaj7 wrote:
Nice work! Just curious, where do you take the action measurements from? Looks like you are using the fractions, but not on the 12th?

New username, same Pat Mac


I used the 12th fret as my measuring point. If you look in the picture where you can see the measurement on the high E you can see the two dots that mark the octave. The side dots aren't doubled up, is that what you were looking at?

Steve is dead on for the measurements I used. For guys that play a little harder they almost always need a little extra room to dig in.

Author:  Pmaj7 [ Sun Dec 23, 2018 10:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

I could be tripping, but it looks like in both pictures you are measuring on the 11th fret.

New username, same Pat Mac

Author:  DanKirkland [ Sun Dec 23, 2018 3:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

Pmaj7 wrote:
I could be tripping, but it looks like in both pictures you are measuring on the 11th fret.

New username, same Pat Mac


You know you're actually right. I was behind by one fret for the fractional measurements haha! My mistake.

What I was shooting for was 6/64 on the low E and 5 on the high like Steve has stated. If the client wants it lower it is a captured saddle so it's fairly simple to lower it should he desire. You have a good eye Pat.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sun Dec 23, 2018 8:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

Pmaj7 wrote:
I could be tripping, but it looks like in both pictures you are measuring on the 11th fret.

New username, same Pat Mac


Talk about seeing what you expect to see. I'm guilty idunno

Author:  SteveSmith [ Mon Dec 24, 2018 12:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

Curiosity got the best of me so I had to do the math. turns out if you setup the guitar at the 11th fret instead of the 12th fret the difference in string height above the 12th fret will be about 0.001". Not that we would but if we did it wouldn't actually matter. Ok, I do have work to do but just had to figure that one out.

Author:  DanKirkland [ Mon Dec 24, 2018 6:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

SteveSmith wrote:
Curiosity got the best of me so I had to do the math. turns out if you setup the guitar at the 11th fret instead of the 12th fret the difference in string height above the 12th fret will be about 0.001". Not that we would but if we did it wouldn't actually matter. Ok, I do have work to do but just had to figure that one out.


Nice work with the math, that's a pretty small margin at the end of the day. The owner was pretty ecstatic with how it played so I'm not terribly worried about the final measurements haha!

Author:  SteveSmith [ Mon Dec 24, 2018 7:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

I bet the owner was happy. That went from a tired old wall hanger to a well setup player!

Author:  DanKirkland [ Tue Dec 25, 2018 7:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

SteveSmith wrote:
I bet the owner was happy. That went from a tired old wall hanger to a well setup player!


Thank you for the compliment. The gentleman who owns it also made the day even better with a very nice review and recommendation on our shop facebook. That really makes me feel great about the whole deal.

Author:  Clinchriver [ Thu Dec 27, 2018 8:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

Nice work, solved several problems and now that beautiful old Martin is ready to continue its musical journey.

I recently reset the neck on an older Martin D-28. Took an hour to get the neck off, turns out 23 years earlier it had been poorly reset, and re-glued with what I believe was gorilla glue dyed black. Big mess took 4 hours to clean that garbage off. Once clean the rest of the job was a piece of cake.

Author:  DanKirkland [ Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

Clinchriver wrote:
Nice work, solved several problems and now that beautiful old Martin is ready to continue its musical journey.

I recently reset the neck on an older Martin D-28. Took an hour to get the neck off, turns out 23 years earlier it had been poorly reset, and re-glued with what I believe was gorilla glue dyed black. Big mess took 4 hours to clean that garbage off. Once clean the rest of the job was a piece of cake.


Gorilla glue is the WORST. Glad you got that taken care of! Sounds like a long day at the office.

Author:  johnparchem [ Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

Nice repair documentation. I loved the 1/8" rod to determine where to slot the bridge, very simple but I never thought of it.

Author:  DanKirkland [ Thu Jan 17, 2019 9:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 1955 Martin D-28 Repair

johnparchem wrote:
Nice repair documentation. I loved the 1/8" rod to determine where to slot the bridge, very simple but I never thought of it.


Thanks. I can't take credit for that one. I saw the little (expensive) tool that stew mac sells and I was determined to not buy it and find an alternative :lol:

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