1969 Martin D-28 Restoration - Part 2 | Removing the terrible finish
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
- In this series we’ll be restoring a very sorry looking 1969 Martin D-28 - the last year of the Brazilian back and sides.
In this episode we strip off the terrible shellac finish and get to hear the guitar for the first time
A lot of work went in to this portion and the result was very impressive. You never quite know what is hiding under that finish until you remove it. Looking forward to part 3!
Enjoyed both the work as well as the singing and playing.
Thanks for your support :)
Was waiting for part 2, awesome work! For sure refret it if you're doing a refinish and neck reset. If I was buying something like this, it would be nice to know the frets were done as well so its ready for the next 50 years.
Thanks very much for your support, and yeah I’m inclined to agree. Never going to be a museum piece so might as well make it a great player’s great guitar.
Thank you, I'm really enjoying this restoration too. Cheers from Indonesia 😗
Great, glad that you’re enjoying it! Lovely to hear where people are tuning in from too.
With martins with no trust rod, you can pull a few frets in a few places with a new ret with a wider tang which pushed the neck straight.
That’s a great tip actually, thanks. I know StewMac sell that tang crimping tool. Might be worth a look. Thanks for watching!
No cracks in the top or back and sides!!! Nice video and good workmanship.
No, this is why I was so thrilled with the guitar - it’s actually in great shape underneath the terrible finish!
I had a 68 D28 beautiful Brazilian rose wood , and Ran into the D28 one serial number higher and the wood and tone were so different. looking forward to more.
Oh wow! What are the chances? Do you remember what the serial number was? Be interesting to see how close it was to this one.
The Brazilian rosewood on the back is gorgeous. I'm sure you are taking care not to thin the wood too much. I'd prob have gone ahead and removed the neck and the bridge. Nice looking work though, looking forward to your progress. I'd love to have one like that, even in that condition.
Yeah absolutely- you’ll be pleased to know the neck and bridge are both off! Regarding losing thickness, it’s barely anything because after stripping I went straight to 240 and finished there.
Will be up for sale at the end if interested!
Refinishing is only about 99% preparation. I picked up a couple of drops of aluminum tubing from a local fab shop for peanuts. 12" x 2" 1nd 12" x 3". (got them for a dozen donuts) I glued on a thin layer of cork and then used PSA sandpaper, They really help get the waists smooth and flat. They minimize waves being sanded in. Nice work BTW!
That’s a great idea. And thanks for your support.
FYI Martinmoved to the bigger Rosewood bridge plate in the middle of 68. So that big Rosewood bridge plate is original. Just so you know. I’m really enjoying the video. This is one of those cases where the refinish is going to give this a new life and I’m really excited about it.
Thanks for the info! I’ve read that some people prefer the stiffer maple bridge plate. Maybe I’ll epoxy some carbon fibre on there to stiffen her up?! Thanks very much for your support. Means a lot.
@@BeardsworthGuitars For what it's worth, the Maple bridge plates were much smaller. I don't remember the exact dimensions, but it's not much wider than an inch. From what I've read, Martin switched to the bigger one because they were having a lot of warranty work, Maybe because people were putting heavier strings on those smaller bridge plates. I think the Maple thing is more of a collector or original condition value more than the actual performance. I have 2 from 67 and both have the small maple bridge plate.
@eddiegalyean ah yep that makes total sense. Either way, zero intention of touching the bridge plate or otherwise modifying this one. Just trying to get her back to honest players grade.
@@BeardsworthGuitars I will add that I had a D 28 with the rosewood bridge plate and Randy Wood, who is a guru here, put a small Maple plate on top of the rosewood similar to what i saw on yours, but it was Maple. You will know best when you remove that insert, but I think leaving that original in there is best for it's value if possible.
Looking forward to watching the progress. That sneak peak at the top was awesome. 🥴
You kinda got lucky it was sprayed over. No guilt in removing the finish after that.
Yeah I absolutely agree. Removing the neck from a guitar with a nice original finish is a whole other board game!
Several years ago, instead of throwing my POS 1972 Epiphone F150 into the trash I figured that what the hell, let's fix it. The guitar was a love gift from my young wife. Because it was so badly made it had been in the case for many years with the strings under tension and the upper bout brace failed and dropped off. When the case opened the neck went BOING and crushed the rosette and smashed the soundboard under it while cracking the upper side under the neck. This guitar was a failure from the start. The intonation was off, and it went out of tune past the third fret. It had a zero fret so that the nut was only for string spacing. the saddle was a piece of plastic within an aluminum cradle that had a screw at both ends to raise and lower the action. The screws only drilled holes into the top. I sourced parts and reglued a new upper bout brace, found a rosette with the best diameter and trimmed it to fit the smashed bits and after stewing a shaved piece of spruce for over three hours and wrapping it around a tin can with tape to shape to fill in the sound hole under the rosette then I went on to rebuilding the saddle. The old saddle was shit and I had a large piece of legal Walrus Ivory that I used to make a new one. I cannot remember how I figured it out but the new one that I made was a perfect copy of the fretboard radius and it sat directly on the soundboard in the bridge. I have had to temper the intonation with Ivory chips because some strings were sharp and some flat when tuning. I made a new nut from a blank with a bench grinder and files and cut the slots with files and guitar strings in a jewelers saw. I have gone from a 3/8ths inch action to a 3/32's at the 12th fret and it is in tune up the fretboard. I love this guitar now. Thank you, Super Glue.
Love this! And Amen re superglue. I think if the cork sniffers knew how much we used the stuff in luthiery they would pass out!
Nice rendition of The Drugs Don't Work by The Verve. Good luck with the guitar, it sounds nice.
Thanks very much for the kind words and support.
I’m enjoying this because you work and post videos quickly as you work.
Sand that Martin Logo off and add a brand new one.
Martin also has guitars that have that logo in pearl too, not just their vertical D-45 style.
Look into it.
All I can say is watch this space ;)
Glad you’re enjoying the videos - I’ve been trying to find ways to record in such a way that allows me to edit quicker and get better footage.
Disagree, keep the logo if at all possible.
@@stuco With the refinishing work already done to the guitar, saving the crappy-looking logo has no material effect on the value of the guitar. The refinishing and the apparent bridge issues already means that it has already lost 65-70% of its value compared to an untouched model of the same vintage.
@@Samalyzer45
Well it’s nice to have a brand new 1969 Martin D-28 though.
You ought to exercise caution with wood dust recovered from sanding. Occasionally sanding grit from the papers can contaminate it, as I found out the hard way.
The luthier I've used for several builds insists that fine tops and finishes should be scraped, not sanded
A violin maker friend would agree here, but I would have concerns with lacquer adhering to such a fine surface. Also, I strongly suspect Martin aren’t sitting there diligently scraping their guitars - even back in 1969!
What is this finish removal solution ?
The aim was to just remove the shellac, hence using methylated spirits. Ultimately what was achieved was a rather slow way of stripping the paint off. Would still sooner go slowly than endanger the old plastics using something more aggressive.
I’ve never heard of 240 grit sandpaper
www.timbecon.com.au/abrasive-paper-sheet
Seems more commonplace than 220 grit. We also use 240 volts. Coincidence?
@@BeardsworthGuitars I wasn’t doubting you lol. I’d just never heard of it. 80, 100, 220, 320, 400, 600 etc I guess you’d say is the commonplace grits. 240 volts?!! That’s wild lol
@@johnwhitaker545 yeah for no apparent reason we have 120 and 240 grit over here!
I'm a little confused. Having invested so much time and energy thus far, knowing you intend to do a neck reset, having identified that there is fretwear, why even think about doing a refret? At this stage it really is a no-brainer. You won't want to be doing any serious work to this instrument once you're finished, so do everything you can now. You also need to investigate why the neck reset is necessary i.e. what caused the situation. I suspect there will be a valley between the sound hole and the front of the bridge.
Yeah look this is a totally valid point. My only thinking is that there is a load of life left in the frets. I very much doubt they’re original given how little wear there is comparative to the condition of the guitar.
@@BeardsworthGuitars I based my comment on your statement in the video. I suppose it really depends upon the fret plane as is and of course the fretboard itself.
Yep absolutely
Not a bad voice, I thought you were going to sing Van Morison's Into The Mystic but nice song any way.
I love Van Morison! This song is Drugs Don’t Work by The Verve which despite what many think is actually a tragic song about Richard Ashcroft’s father suffering the final stages of cancer.
You should should sing tenor. Tenor twelve miles away
I’m touched that you think my singing is the most troll-worthy part of this video.
Good ole grover milk bottles
Real gold won't oxidize
Yeah they actually used brass powder as it transpires.
that is the dumdest way to strip a guitar i have ever seen
Good to know, Joe! Let me know when you’ve uploaded your video showing the smartest way. Thanks for watching :)