Neil:So, so our discussion is a sample of what we are talking about mike’s guitar.So here he is with his d18?
Mike: Yeah
Neil: And we talked about how cool it is, and how that, you know, it goes about harmony or what needs to in the English Frank Ford put in there.
Mike: Yeah Fred, he replaced the finger board, he had to put a metal bar and fix the net cause it uh “yooooo…” and uh also the finger board was cracked. From here all the way up to, you know up here for some reason. I don’t know why it split more of downward joining the body. So we replaced the fret board, put a metal bar and the neck and reset it and that was 1991, and still in great shape. There was really nothing wrong with the body, of the guitar, it’s just the. Nothing about the guitar. This is not the original bridge. I don’t know if it shows up on the camera but the fret’s more outline:
Neil: Yeah
Mike: Some time before the guitar came into my possession, which is considerally, it was 1976, some years ago. Somebody must’ve glued and oversized the bridge on here. :
Neil: Yeah.
Mike: Of a hard guitar something I don’t know. It’s really wide. I don’t know. I’ve seen some terrible things done by these guitarists. I’ve seen people put those trapeze tail pieces,
Neil: Oh yeah
Mike: And put like draw holes and put like pickups and I’ve seen like one really nice D28. I saw recently. he had a filled in the hole here for a jack and he had some filled in stuff here from the cordion pickup that was on there and it was just people have done to these instruments, cause you know people wanted to make them louder, or slowly turning them to electric guitar .and you know notice I want it to be able to plug it into the nap and put it back to the nap application of the acoustic instruments was pretty pretty elementary at its best.
Neil: Yeah.
Mike: So this guitar, I don’t know what happened but then, when I got it, this was had a correct bridge on it, this is now the third bridge. This guitar, cause that one it was pretty much stuff for a while. It just got the whole scar worn out. And the bridge had to be redone. So this is actually the correct style of bridge.
Neil: Yeah are you talking about the belly bridge or not?
Mike: Yes this is the belly bridge.
Neil:Okay, just ’cause it is raised as opposed to the square one, like in all one height.
Mike: Right. The square one, they have the little something called the pyramid bridges.
Neil: Oh yeah,
Mike: and either end, it came to a lil key.
Neil: Oh Yeah
Mike: In 1929, the type of the inception of the OM guitar, the extra model, you were speaking of earlier, Martin developed the belly bridge. It has been called because it just sort of pops out right here. Pop belly. And that’s what has been using ever since. All of the other steel string instruments and this one has the extended saddle. The saddle’s a little wider in 60s sometimes, they made have. The idea about that was to give them a greater strength. Because the saddle extends the thin part and it comes pretty scrudes, especially those Rosewood ones, to crack, right here, so to come back that, Martin they’ve shorter. I like to look at them with the longer saddle. It’s what it had originally. I don’t know, I don’t think it really does a need of the sound.’ cause I don’t think enough when I first scout this guitar at the bridges, it has the shorter ones.
Neil: Oh
Mike: And I was Probably, I think that was just the standard off the shelf Anthony, bridge from the 1970s and somebody put on there to replace this god awful things that was on here at one time.(right) and I think they just put a bit of the wacker and touched it up. If Im in the winmax or something I don’t know but…
Neil: Windex
Mike Windex is probably gonna something like it. It always bothers me a lil bit. At some point I never dreamed of having a guitar this long,. But it still who knows I might take it to somebody like frank ford or there’s a fellow in some bardi, or Jim long bard, in his… actually it corresponds of frank lies excellent for pyramid and luthier
Neil: Nice.
Mike: I use him when Im down there. Which is where I live anyway, so… just really work on them and on really good success /but I was thinking of having sing it on aiming at Jude. That eliminate this demarcation line
Neil: Yeah
Mike: bridges…
Neil: I’m not bothered
Mike: I know it’s just that it kinda of that’s why it always bothered me those guitarists, ugly scars left behind by somebody’s magnitude. Other than that the guitarist in tylee original, there’s no refurnish, I think. This was overspread a lil bit. cause I roll all this off in the bare wood. and I was in so many years ago. and Jim Longbarn,did that. other than that the finish on this guitar is original. Here is something for… a tip for anybody out there who has an old guitar. just “Don’t refinish it, dont. I don’t care if it’s the ugliest, most scratched up; it looks horrible, if it’s a really horrible looking guitar. as long as it’s not just all bare wood. It’s the plainest guitar. you know its like. If you wanted to look perfect, you’ll destroy the value of it, and it probably won’t sound as good so, you know.
Neil: Yeah
Mike:The best sounding martin guitars I’ve heard are the ones that look like they’ve been basically dragged in a bus for about twenty miles…
Neil: Cigarette burns here and there…
Mike: Oh yeah random sounds goin…