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Apparently D28 don't like ball peen hammers thrown into their backs. I guess the past owners significant other wanted him to remember her.
So here is a pic of the hole after I got the pieces aligned and put a fillet on the back from the inside to create a foundation for the repair.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Next the filler piece I made was oversized so I could work into the better wood and eliminate the bad. This made it structural.
You can see you have to get creative to get things clamped .
The process was sand , seal , fill, seal , finish and drop fill. As of now the final coats are on just waiting for final level and buff. I always save old wood and found a decent match.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Is she still in jail?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Great save John well done!!!

We had one, a 70's D-35 that the owner was shot at with OO buck as he was exiting someplace. Pellets went through the case and into the fret board... the guy was unhurt not that he mattered the Martin was what mattered

Maybe we need to start a support group for abused Martins.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Jail? She's swimmin' wit da fishes.

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jw ( o)===:::

Hesh wrote:
"Pellets went through the case and into the fret board"

Makes for unique position markers with a "back story"

LOL whenever I think of this shot up Martin I hear the tune "Give Me Three Steps" in my head....

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Hello,

sorry, please do not misunderstand me, but I feel the East Indian Rosewood patch which has been glued into the hole could have been selected better.
The grain is very wavy and not straight....
The grain, structure and color is quite good, but it looks a bit twisted and bent.

Anyhow....nice job!

Sure someone could have spent far more time, delayed the client even further, lost even more money on a repair that is very labor intensive and then someone somewhere would not have a local Luthier to service their stuff because the one who worked on this went out of business chasing perfect.... John is sharing a slice of the real world of Lutherie not the bull crap forum world that is far more academic (and often wrong...) than either productive or instructive..

This is the story of one instrument that is now back out there making beautiful music and not sitting on a shelf somewhere for a year or more as a luthier searches for that perfect piece of wood..... Get it done and get it out of here, next.

Do you do this kind of work as how you make your living? If you do you are aware or should be aware that we have to estimate the job and then hold true to the estimate for our client. We also have to estimate, if we want to do the work a quotation that is competitive and then we have to stick to it.

When John estimates low we not only lose money we lose justification to even be a Luthier. Lutherie businesses in the states run on fumes as is often the case. We have high expenses while trying to keep an old world craft alive and viable in the 21st century. What this means is that every job must have:

1). A defined beginning
2). A defined approach
3). And a mutually agreed upon definition of "success" where the client is part of the agreement (this means an ending where you declare it done and walk the hell away...)

In other words we have to get the thing done and gone, next. No excuse for poor work but a strong warning about chasing perfect when the funding and time is not there...... that is if you wish to stay in business.....

Not advocating lousy work, never but successful Luthiers at least the many who I know have to decide when good is good enough AND these kinds of photos rarely give you the entire picture such as all the other warts and bumps on this instrument that may make spending thousands to have this repaired a non-starter.

There is also the issue of the repair being suitable for the rest of the instrument.....

Could things have been matched up better? Sure and then the output of who's doing it may be so low that their business and service isn't viable anymore and that's my point.

John did and does great work period and to be critical of this repair when you do not know the circumstances, budget, condition of the rest of the instrument AND what the client asked for is both rude and ignorant..... and very sad to see on this forum. This has not happened often, people being critical of the work of others especially a very well respected forum member (and my friend), very sad to see it now and I don't appreciate it.

Gloves are off.....

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Ann Arbor Guitars

John did well on the match. You’d have to have a Martin-sized stash of rosewood to dig through to do better, considering the unique grain in the original back. And as Hesh points out, when you call the customer and ask them if they’re happy paying the shop’s hourly bench rate to have a repair guy flick through a pile of scrap for half a day, they tend to answer: “NO!”

Maybe the TJ Thompsons of this world, with clients dropping off high dollar vintage Martins and a blank check for exacting restoration work, have the luxury of such things. Most of us blue collar repair guys do not.

Yeah, it’s a 75, not a 35. Nice work, John!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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considering you will never match a piece of wood that is 50 years old and if you think you can try it.
This was a realistic economy repair. To be able to take a guitar that is work 2500 in excellent shape , then have a hammer punch a hole in it you lost about 75% value so I took a $500 guitar and with $400 worth of work make it a $1500 guitar
many that think otherwise haven't done this as a business. Had I totally replaced the back it may have become a $1700 guitar. and would have been a $1000 repair so from the economy side the customer would have lost money , as it is he already sold the guitar made a nice profit.

there are the realities of vintage guitar repair now had this been a 35 Martin worth 80 grand I would have done an all together different repair and I have already.

the point here was to show the process and how to make what may have been a lost cause a playable guitar. Hesh and the others that do this for a living are looking for viable repairs that are stable and structural.


Most of the pros know me I have been doing this for 25 years. I like to share my knowledge so of those that can do better please post your pics we would love to see how you do it too.
Sharing knowledge is how we keep this industry alive
best to you all

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

all done

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Nice repair and appropriate for the guitar too.


Steve

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Very nice John!! Great color match too and that isn't easy with old, oxidized wood.

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Ann Arbor Guitars