This is a Martin D28 that needed a new bridge and a neck reset.

The old bridge had been replaced by cutting into the top. It was sunken into the top

by about a 1/16th of an inch. The bridge had been shaved down rather than doing a neck

reset. This is an all too common fix for guitars that should have a neck reset.

NOT GOOD!

 

I had to rout out the top under the bridge and

put in an inlay of spruce (with the grain running

in the opposite direction. I used epoxy for this fix.

 

 

Someone put a strip of rosewood over the bridgeplate

to reenforce the holes. Since the bridge was sunken into

the face of the guitar this helped to keep the strings wrappings

from going over the saddle. It may also be the reason that the bridge

wasn't glued down properly. I had to make a special caul to fit inside

so when I glued the bridge down it had even pressure.

 

The X-Brace had been badly glued at some point.

 

I cleaned up the old glue and reglued it.

 

At some point someone must have buggered

up the gluing of the pickguard crack and just

made a huge pickguard to cover it up.

Since the footprint was dug so deep into the face,

all I could do was to clean it up and make a pickguard

that actually fit the footprint.

The old one was even bigger!

 

 

NOW FOR THE BIG CAN OF WORMS!

THE NECK RESET!

 

Here's what I found inside:

Note the dowels and dowel holes??

More Dowel holes!

There were also the evil side of the fingerboard cracks:

 

I put an extral brace behind the top brace under the fingerboard extension:

 

And made a patch to put under the sound hole for even more support:

Here it is after gluing it in:

I glued a piece of veneer underneath the fingerboard extension

so it wouldn't dive after the 14th fret:

and an inlay on the top as well:

 

 

The next thing was to work on the peeling finish.

I painted the cracks with acetone to soften them.

Left it overnight to re-harden:

Then I sanded the top and French Polished it lightly to seal any cracks that might have been open:

Then i sanded and polished the top. I also filled in around the rosette with

super glue, scraped and sanded and polished that as well:

 

You can still see the finish cracks, but they are all sealed now:

 

Here are some views of the neck reset:

 

 

This is where I put the veneer under the fingerboard extension.

 

Here's what the action looks like:

And here is the finished guitar, with a slightly oversized bridge that I made: