I
know some people think I'm like this Guitar Repairman Wizard or something, but this week,
I had a bad day in the shop and, my blog needing an update, I’m going to tell
you all about it.
A
while ago, I got in a '67 Martin D-28 that just needed a neck reset and some
frets. Easy job. I did the frets and did
the reset. When I strung it up to check
the action to set the saddle height, the front of the stock bridge snapped
clean off. In 15 years, 150 guitars/year, I've NEVER had that happen. So I informed the owner and offered to
make him a new bridge for free. I don't like making bridges- it's one of my
least favorite things, especially when I have to make an _exact_ replica of
something in order for it to work. I just hate blowing it and wasting a bridge
blank. Irks me to death. Anyway....
After
spending most of the previous day meticulously measuring and fitting the new
bridge(*) to fit precisely in the stock footprint, and drilling the pin holes in a
nice precise clean line so that they’d line exactly with the stock pin holes, today
I was routing the saddle slot, which I always do last so that I put it exactly
where I want it for good intonation. Something
felt funny. The router was making strange noises and I could feel it
struggling. “Well, it’s a hard piece of ebony”, I thought. Then I took another
look and noticed the router bit wobbling, so I quickly stopped the router and
got it out of the way. Turns out the bit had worked its way loose from the
router collet and dug deeply, widely, and sloppily into the bridge, ruining it.
I've NEVER had that happen.
I
decided to try to fill and re-cut the slot just to see how good I could make it
look. Hours later, it looked great, so I strung the guitar up, but guess what?
The bridge was .020" too low. The stock
bridge was really tall and I never got to test my reset 'cause the stock bridge
broke as I was putting a test saddle in it. For guitars to work correctly, the
neck angle has to agree with the combined height of the bridge and saddle. My
new, repaired, bridge was too short, making the new saddle too tall and.... it
just wasn't gonna work. So, 2 days worth of work went down the drain. If you’re paying attention, you’ll note that,
being too short, this bridge was really doomed from the start. The wayward
router bit just finished the job.
I
just hate going to bed with unfinished work, so after throwing tools and crying
and tearing my shirt, I pulled the meticulously made repaired bridge and
started on another one. After spending
all evening on it, I got a new bridge made and fit before quitting for the day
so hopefully I've managed to take 1 step forward after 2 steps back. The next day I successfully cut a nice saddle slot in Bridge #2 and the guitar is currently strung up, awaiting final adjustment. I’m not claiming “success” just yet, though. Not until a week has passed.
This little mark is all that remains of the jagged slot
The original bridge, cracked
L-R: The new new bridge, the wobbly slot bridge, the original.
Bridge and saddle together determine string height-
they have to match the neck angle.
I watched a couple of these and felt better about my "bad day".
(*)In
case you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, this is another bridge (that I
made). The wood part is the "bridge", the bone part in the middle is
the "saddle", and the black things are "pins".
A Good Day
Another Good Day
To
make this right, you gotta get the curves in the wings just right- clean and
sharp with a C shape. The overall height of the bridge and saddle have to match
the neck angle of the guitar perfectly. The holes for the pins have to be the
perfect distance from the saddle and perfectly spaced and in line. In the case
of today's guitar, the new bridge needs to fit precisely into the old footprint
on the top- that means that all curves and widths have to be exactly right. If
they're not, I re-do it.
These bridges look good. I got lucky those days.
I’ll take lucky. It's what Wizards are made up of. Luck. Luck and ebony dust.
Oh yeah.... the book is done! I took a couple of boxes to the North American Falconer's Association meet in Kansas and sold a bunch of 'em.
I've never posted this story in my blog and it needs to be here.
Stage 1- the Elkhorn mandolin:
I went to South Plains College with Robb L. Brophy in 1980-82 and we've crossed paths a few times over the years. I'd heard that he was building mandolins and heard they were getting a good reputation but had yet to see one. At my son David's funeral, my friends John, Coy, and Dave, from OKC, showed up and I asked them to play music at the gravesite. John pulled out an Elkhorn mandolin- the first one I'd seen- but I didn't get to check it out, being somewhat preoccupied that day.
Stage 2- the 1967 D-28:
Customer sent the guitar in May. He has several other vintage Martins, including a '44 D-28 and he wanted me to scallop the '67 to a "deep scallop". Said the '67 was "sleepy" and didn't sound very good. I scalloped, did the popsicle brace, and Waverly tuners, all per his request. Videoed it for his approval. He said "it's wide awake now!" so I sent it back. I told him it would take 6-8 months for the scalloping to fully kick in, be patient. He got it, said he loved it. Case closed. I packed for Kaufman Kamp.
Stage 3- The Elkhorn crosses my path:
A year after David's funeral, I'm at Kaufman Kamp 2013. I was walking back to my dorm at night when I saw a friend of mine- Rick- alone in his room. Now, understand... it's dark, Rick has the light on and the light is illuminating the sidewalk. So, I turned and went in to visit with him. Hanging on the rack is a familiar looking mandolin. "What's that?", I asked. He said "That's an Elkhorn mandolin I just got from John." It was the mandolin John had played at David's funeral. So I played it and liked it a lot. I asked Rick to let me know if he ever wanted to sell it, knowing full well I probably couldn't afford it.
Stage 4- The D-28 comes back, damaged:
A month later, customer doesn't like the D-28 as much as he thought. He'd looked inside and said I didn't "deep scallop" it. I reminded him that it's gonna take 6-8 months to open up and I scalloped it as much as I'll ever scallop a guitar. Another couple of months goes by and he wants to send the guitar back for more scalloping. I said "fine, go ahead"- I'm going to hang it on the wall for 3 months before I even touch it, ya know? He wants me to send him a "Return" label from my UPS account. I do.
Guitar arrives and it has a 6" crack in the treble side of the upper bout in probably the best possible place for a top crack. We communicate and I comment that the guitar was poorly packed- no padding under the headstock, nowhere near close to enough padding in the too-small box, etc. Basically, NONE of my shipping instructions followed. He replied and said "it's the same box we used the first time!" and I said "Yeah, well, just because we survived it once doesn't mean we do it again". He blames me for his packing job!
So, I ask him "What do you want to do?" He says "I want full replacement value of the guitar" For a crack?!? I check with my insurance company and they will NOT cover it because he owns it and I don't. And unfortunately there's only $500 insurance on that Return because I thought the insurance company covered "Returns". Well, a "return" is when I own the guitar, ship it out, buyer doesn't want it, and sends it back; I've owned the guitar the whole time. Not the case here- he owns the guitar, he should've insured it. So, I explain all this to him and he keeps insisting on full replacement value because now the guitar has a crack and NONE of his guitars have a crack and the guitar is now worthless and then he says "and I want to replace it with something else" (which is what's _really_ going on here, I think).
So, I say "Well, insurance doesn't cover it so I will have to pay for this out of my own pocket". Having consulted with 2 former customers and 2 other luthiers in the meantime (3 of whom ask "how do you know it wasn't cracked _before_ he shipped it?", there being no damage to the case or the box), I offer some options and he continues on with "full replacement value" and then says "please don't make this into a legal dispute." At that point, I say "Enough of this" and write him a check for $4600 which _drains_ my account but I'm confident that I can fix the crack, sell the guitar, and recoup my $$$.
I fix the crack (no missing wood, it just snaps back together), spending 2 months on the finish repair to make it look as good as possible. I play the guitar and think "this thing's pretty nice!!!" and determine not to sell it for anything less than my personal cost in the guitar. I take it to Winfield and it's the hit of our Camp (in which there are 5 prewar Martins, and a stack of top-drawer small luthier guitars). Dick loves it, Tommy plays it A/B with his '53 D-18 and says "THIS is a NICE guitar!!!" and then plays it for another hour or so. And so on- in the end, 3 people came up to me and said "If Dick doesn't want it, let me know". I come really, really close to saying "The D-28's going home with me!" but Dick comes thru and a _promised_ check later, I've got my money back (well.. check's in the mail!).
Stage 5- Everything comes together:
So, I get back from Winfield and guess what? There's an e-mail from Rick and he wants to sell the Elkhorn in order to buy ..... drum roll, please..... a late 1960's Martin D-28. Dick was kind of debating whether to keep the D-28 from me or keep his tried/true '62 D-21, so I suggested that Rick talk to Dick about my D-28 (they know each other). The D-28 ended up going to Rick, the Elkhorn to me, and everyone was happy. In fact, because Rick was asking less $$$ for the Elkhorn than i was for the D-28, I actually got some $$$ back.
I'd have had trouble coming up with the money for the mandolin, but having _had_ to come up with it for the D-28, swapping was less painful than an outright purchase. And so here I am with a friend's mandolin that was played by a friend at my son's (another friend!) funeral swapped for with another friend, with yet another friend involved. In the meantime, the '67 made it to Kaufman Kamp 2014 where it was played by several people. I asked them how it was and was told "Excellent", "Sounds GREAT, plays like butter". I knew it was a good guitar.
You could just go re-read last week's post, I suppose. Same deal- cloudy skies, no rain. They remind me of this passage from Jude, in which Jude is talking about false prophets:
They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; (Jude 1:12)
What we want to see is more along the lines of this:
Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. (1 Kings 18:45a)
Or this!
Ask the LORD for rain In the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone. (Zechariah 10:1)
We've certainly had the flashing clouds and the result was fires all over the place. One ranch south of us was almost entirely burned up and the owner, who took to the air in a plane said it was almost like it just burned along their property boundaries. We, so far, have been spared from fires. And the weather forecast is still calling for 10-40% chances of rain every day for the rest of the week. So, while it's tough, it could be worse.
As part of the Ministerial Alliance in town I get 15 min a day on the local radio station about every 5 weeks. The above passages are probably overflow from my most recent series, which was on....drum roll... rain! I looked at a lot of verses on rain, and it was clear that God uses it to accomplish both chastisement and reward. I did the same thing in 2008 and I'll probably do it again in a few years.
This week, the 58th Annual Camp Meeting is coming up and I'm doing the daily Bible study as well as preaching the closing sermon on Sunday. In light of everyone's recent and current struggles, I'm thinking I'll look at Job, particularly:
And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD." In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. (Job 1:21-22)
and
But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 2:10)
Of course, times of trouble aren't easy- Job tore his robe and shaved his head. The author of Hebrews says:
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)
So, there's not much to do here but examine ourselves, try to ride it out, and hope for better times. Hard times certainly make us appreciate the good times more. Oh wait... here's the famous 2 Chronicles passage:
When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)
Well, that's pretty much my message for Camp Meeting this week! :) However, you don't get the brisket and beans that we'll be getting. Yummy.
Moving to more mundane things, a neighbor came over on Monday and we "pulled" the windmill in last week's blog. This involves hooking up ropes and pulleys and pulling the sucker rods up, unscrewing each one, laying them out carefully, and then getting to the valve which enables water pumping. There are circular leather bushings on that valve and if they get rust, dirt, and junk in them, the mill won't pump. We were getting some rust flakes when pounding on the pipe and so decided to see what was down there. Found a couple of flakes, put new leathers on, and it seems to be a little better. Sorry I didn't get pictures- next time!
On the falcon front, training of the prairie falcon is moving along. She's a little challenging, but we're starting to make some progress and I've gotten her to eat off the lure and take food from my glove. Here she is relaxing on her window perch. This is good as it shows that she really can relax. As soon as I get her out flying, she'll be able to burn off some of the energy and aggression that's causing our training issues and things should progress even better.
The peregrine is growing up:
Being taken at a much younger age, being a peregrine, and being a male, he's got a totally different attitude than the prairie. He likes to play with us, is much more sociable (which will create its own training challenges in a bit), and far more vocal. His feathers are growing by the minute and he's now moved from a creature who could barely walk 2 weeks ago to one that's flapping and running around his mews (8' x 12'). I don't think I'd been able to take him at this age!
And finally, what with our ranch income uncertain, I've been stepping up the guitar business again. My intent this year was the reverse- back off the guitars and focus more on the ranch, but it just hasn't worked out that way. So, I contacted all the people I put on "hold" and told 'em the gates were open. So far this week, I've done 2 bridges, 2 bridgeplates, 1 neck reset, 1 nut, 1 saddle, shaved a couple of braces, and I have another neck reset lined up once the guitar has a chance to react to the new bridge/plate. I like working on guitars.
Here's a 70's Martin D-41 getting a new bridge:
And, I guess that's it for today. I need to go out and "doctor" a couple of sick cattle in the pasture, do some guitar work, get ready for Bible study tonight (we're going thru Matthew, chapter by chapter, reading it, and then seeing what jumps out at everyone), and praying/hoping for rain!!! THIS is what it should look like this time of the year:
Today was "Guitar Day". This is where I remove wood from perfectly good guitars in an effort to make them better.
This is a Martin D-18 GE and I did quite a few things to it. Last night I pulled the bridge off, scraped off the finish underneath, and reglued it. This morning, I shaved a couple of braces, removed another one, made a new pickguard (shown), made a new nut, and did some misc things. The effect of all this is a guitar that's a bit more responsive, louder, crisper and just, IMHO, sounds better. It also helps pay the bills and that's very, very important!
Here's the new nut I made.
This work took pretty much all day, but the guitar's done and ready to ship home. With this done, I need to get ready for Bible study tonight. We're going to start something new. What, I don't know. Maybe we'll study the parables of Jesus, maybe we'll work thru an entire book, maybe... well, I don't know. I'll just have to see what The People want to do.
