Guitar reincarnation (the guitar players out there will know what I mean)

[DFW]

I just left Dallas today, and am now with my brother in the Langley area outside Washington.

For about 20 years, my brother had a decaying Martin D-18 around the house. The neck was way off (in need of a serious reset) and the action was over half an inch high due to the bridge having peeled halfway off from the bottom up. A real basket case. I have been after my brother to have it repaired for MANY years now. He FINALLY took it to a competent place here in Northern Virginia, and Martin even honored their lifetime guarantee and paid for the neck reset.

All in all, my brother was $250 out of pocket, and the D-18 now sounds like new--EXCEPT that the wood is aged about 40 years, and you can't buy that for any price. His instrument went from unplayable to angelic. It took about 2 months to get it done, but MAN was it worth the wait. NIIIIIIIIIIICE!!!!!

[Suich]

1. Nice!

I had no idea Martin gave a lifetime guarantee!

[DFW]

2. Neither did I

This was the first I heard of it, and it definitely saved my brother a few hundred on his repair bill, which he would definitely have paid if Martin had not sprung for it--it would still have been cheaper than buying a new D-18, let alone shopping for a playable vintage 40-year-old one.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. How wonderful, my dear DFW!

I'm always glad to hear about old musical instruments getting the care they need, no matter how long it takes.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

4. Keeping a good musical instrument repaired is always worth it.

I had my fiddle rebuilt over 40 years ago by a man who made a viola for my teacher. I was in college and my teacher was principal viola in a major city symphony orchestra.

I got new corner blocks, and a new one-third of a side because it had been rotted by wood worms. I could squeeze the top and bottom of the violin together on that part and see it move, before he replaced that part. He also put in a tiny shim, maximum height one millimeter, to angle the fingerboard up, and rebuilt the pegbox and did it INSIDE the original pegbox, spliced the new part in, removed the scroll and put it back on. I think the neck was starting to wobble where it was attached to the body. I have no idea what that kind of extremely precise repair would cost nowadays.

He said it would be good for another hundred years of playing. He also signed his name and my name and the year, inside the fiddle, right under one of the F holes, not with a paper label, but with a ballpoint pen!!!

At first I was mad that he did that with a ballpoint pen, but now, after all these years, I have to laugh.

[cemaphonic]

6. I've got a violin that I need to repair

It's nothing fancy, but it's been in the family for ~100 years, and came to me as the only musician in my generation. I've been meaning to get it fixed up for quite awhile, but haven't gotten around to it since I don't play violin.

[cemaphonic]

5. Wow, that's a bargain for $250

I just missed being able to pick up one of Martin's midrange models for about a quarter of it's retail cost at an estate sale, but I did get a barely-touched Seagull Grand for $150.

[DFW]

7. I have two 50 year old Guild F212-XLs

I keep one in Dallas and one in Düsseldorf, since I'm afraid of traveling with them. If one got damaged, I'd be heartbroken. This way one is always waiting for me. I bought one of them from the original owner in the mid 1970s. The other cost me an arm and a leg at a show for vintage guitars in Germany, but it beat risking getting the first one destroyed every time I crossed the Atlantic.

[Scuba]

8. Cool. Did not know about the Martin lifetime guarantee. I'm sure it feels and sounds great.

[DFW]

13. We didn't know either

And it sounds amazing. You can't put a price on 40 years of mellowing wood.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Cool Story

I prefer the 18. I'm not a big fan of ornamentals on guitars. I want the binding and rosette simple and understated.

I've got a more modern version (i think maybe 12 years old) that is essentially the D-18, but it has a cutaway. So, it's a DCE-18. (The E means electronics, 'cuz there's a piezo under the bridge and a built in pre-amp.)

Good for your brother.

And, that is cool that while sitting around unplayable, it actually got better.

[DFW]

11. The amazing thing is that he still played it the whole time

With that torturous action, he still managed to play it. Now that it plays perfectly, I expect him to be Rick Ruskin within a year.

I don't care one way or the other about ornamentals. It's the sound that counts. Between 1976 and 2000, I had a friend make me several 12 string (mostly) guitars, and being from Eastern Europe, he insisted in putting in all sorts of fancy inlay and using maple wood binding. They used to take him almost a year to build. I told him I didn't care one way or the other as long as the sound was there. His name translates as "south of the Danube" and although he has been in the States about 60 years, his English still sucks. But his guitars speak as beautifully as they look, and that's what I care about. These were the last two he made for me 15 years ago:

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[ProfessorGAC]

14. Are Those Bozo's?

They look like it. My friend has one. Wonderful guitar.

But, those have too much bling on them for me.

[DFW]

15. They are Božos

My friend's name is Božo Podunavac. Mine are made to be tuned a whole step lower than traditional concert tuning, and I love the sound of them that way. I do keep the 6 strings tuned up to concert pitch, but don't notice any particular bling to them. The Martin does have that, but it's fine to practice on the few days a year I'm in the DC area.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Yeah, My Friend Met Him

He bought one from him at a guitar fair somewhere in the north suburbs of Chicago in the early 80's i think. Your pal was there at the fair and his name was hot at the time in the pages of Guitar player, so my friend sat down and played one.

He bought it on the spot.

Cool

[DFW]

18. Božo was constantly in and out of retirement in those days

His doctor told him he was getting too much wood dust in his lungs, so he retired in 1983, but had no money, so he kept coming out of retirement. In the 70s, he used to charge $2800 for an elaborate 12 string, need about $2000 for the raw materials to make it, nine months from start to finish, and never figured out why he never made any money.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. I Think My Friend Bought It In 1981

But, i wouldn't be any money on that year.

[DFW]

20. I don't recall if he was still in Escondido then

He was already "retired" and living in San Diego when I visited him in 1983.

[panader0]

10. I have a 1939 Martin 0017 that needs some work.

I played it for years until the bridge peeled as you said. I just bought a new Martin--fabulous-- the best of my several acoustics.

[DFW]

12. I only have 2 Martins

An old D-18 with a crumpled pick-guard in Germany and a Mexican-made cheapy 12 string I keep at my brother's house in Virginia so I'll not be without one to play while I'm here. The Mexican one sounds surprisingly good for the price, although it'll never have the depth of my 50 year old Guild 212XLs or the ones made for me by my Serbian friend.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. BTW:

I have the low end 12 string too. Same as you. A good american made 6 string and the mexican 12.

I like it a lot.