MIMF

That settles it. New bridge it is. It's kinda what I was figuring, but thought I'd give someone the chance to sway me the other way.

Well, now I just feel silly.... :oops: I got the old bridge off, came off quite clean and not too hard. So, my eyes were really playing tricks with me and the complication of the whole thing just really psyched me out I think. This bridge is real rosewood, through and through. Based on the age and t...

So, we had yet another one of these things come into the store this week; this time an MK35. What's the deal here? They didn't make very many of these things but they all seem to be in Joplin, Missouri. Go figure!

The customer has agreed to just replace the bridge. So he will end up with a better guitar and we will get to the bottom of this mystery.

Paul, YES! that's exactly what I have going on in here, with the 4 screws added as well. That link you provided helps me visualize what's going on. I agree that it does look like the bridge had been removed, some of the damage to the finish and the top, especially around the back side of the bridge,...

Weird. It is not plastic. Sure looks like rosewood but that white layer is certainly not original. I recently removed a bridge that was the easiest method ever. I routed it down with a router sled to a layer about 1/32" thick and then used a little heat. It came up really cleanly. That should work ...

Here are a couple pictures of what I have here. It *looks* like rosewood and even has a grain texture to it. This bridge had the 4 screws as you have shown. I've seen this in every example of the plastic bridge. But it also has two large bolts, probably 1/2" or so in diameter. I don't know what thes...

I had a mid/late 60s Gibson LG-0 come into the shop. it has a cracked bridge along the line of the bridge pins. Seems simple enough, except that I allowed my eye to deceive me. First thing I did was repair the bridge plate. But I noticed something odd when I started the job. All the screws/hardware ...

I want to know how your customer came to have this guitar - curiosity! Yes, Chuck, I wanted to know the very same thing. He told me that he bought it "a long time ago" (ambiguous, I know) at his local music store in Iola, Kansas. Before that, the owner of the store was gigging with it. How he came ...

Okay, so I have got to the the bottom of this. After a few conversations with the good people at Gibson, they didn't have any helpful information. So I talked to Joe at Gruhn Guitars. He knew all about these guitars. Turns out my suspicions about this guitar were pretty right on. This guitar was in ...

ok cool.

Glad that you have such a happy customer! I like the sunburst. Which elements will you be bringing forward into your regular offerings? Thanks For one, the use of shell. I've never used shell as inlay material before. I've always just used wood, but I really liked the shell; it was a lot easier to ...

Another little piece of the puzzle... I knew that when I researched these the first time that they only made these from 76 through 78. The serial number on this one indicates that it was made in February of 76, making this a VERY early model in this series. Maybe even before they actually went to pr...

A few more pics...

I haven't posted any of my creations is quite a while. I just finished this one last week. It was a custom commission build for a local artist. We worked together on the design, mostly his ideas he brought to the table with a little inspiration from some of my standard designs. It's largely based on...

Dang, you're tough. Please don't watch any of my videos. (seriously) I encounter "bad repairs" all the time. I really try hard to not criticize. I don't know what experience, resources, tools, etc, that the guy before me had. I know I've made some poor decisions in some repairs I've attempted in the...

A few months ago I had a customer bring me a late 70s Gibson MK35. It needed cracks and bracing on the back repiared. It's one of those experimental Kasha bracing style guitars. So in the process of working on that guitar I learned about that experiment. There weren't very many of them made. It was ...

I was told that the hardwood floors in our hundred year old farm house were pecan. I've never tried to verify that. They are beautiful. Yeah, I've seen it used for flooring too. Not an entire floor, but I've seen it used as accents or borders with other species. If it's stable enough for a hardwood...

I think it's a really cool concept. New things like this are really hard for people to wrap their brains around. You're used to seeing a one piece solid nut with 6 slots. Anything else just jumps out as weird to the eye until it's around long enough for people to get used to. I think people are fina...

Hey all. I have a client, repeat customer, that is wanting me to build him a guitar out of some Pecan lumber that he has that came from his property. I don't know anything about the specific wood that he has, I'm waiting to get more info about the stock itself, but just in generalities, what can I e...