Official Luthiers Forum!

OK, I have one of those wretched mutant plastic/ plywood Martin OOCXAE in the shop with the bridge pulled off. I have ascertained that the bridge is plastic. WTH is this pebbly black finish that reminds me of an Ovation? It looks as though the bridge was glued on with cyano glue or epoxy. Anyone have some quick answers? What I'm finding in searches is not helping me.

Also - big fun with the pickup. My meaty fist won't fit in the tiny soundhole so I asked my slender 84 year old father to reach inside to deal with the wire.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I reset the bridge on those a few times using CA glue, I did it once with epoxy. I informed the owners that they should look at another guitar should something more severe happen down the road.

Just a forewarning the sides have a tendency to pop apart from each other, again CA glue is what I've used to fix this in the past. But I tend to pass on these nowadays for my own sanity.

If I'm not mistaken the finish is something that is along the line of the stuff used to finish over the top of countertops for kitchens.

You mean FORMICA?

Martin - shame on you.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Yes, I am willing to be wrong if I'm mistaken.

I used to work sales at Guitar Center and part of my sales pitch was to take my keys out and smack the back of these guitars, no marks or anything. The little baby martin's use the same stuff.

For 6 bills new the person could have bought any number of reasonable guitars.....Oh wait. They don't say "C F Martin" on the headstock. Never mind.

Well, the old glue scraped off just like CA does with a chisel and a high angle of attack. I'll head over to Ace in the morning and grab some Loctite Gel CA. Bottom of bridge cleaned up easy with sandpaper.

There's a hump in the top where the laminate de-laminated. Not much I can do with that since I can't get my hand inside.

Sad day for me. I seldom get to work on Martins, usually considering it a treat. Not this one.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

FWIW, that's what I use on them when they come into my shop, seems to work very well. These are the worse pieces of crap Martin puts out but be delicate in conveying that to your customers:)

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"I've been had again"
Tim Benware
Creedmoor, NC

Used to have a public shop. Now I pick them up at the stores, and bring them back when I'm done.

Years ago, I had to decide which I liked more - hanging with clients, or doing the work?
I like work - it's satisfying, and hanging with clients doesn't pay as well.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

It's CA. I think that the last one we did we used Bob Smiths "Slow" CA to be a little more civilized with positioning. If it's not all the way off the cold removal method (we use an ax in our video.....) works well.

You know these things are not very expensive and they are backed up by a great company which represents real value at least to me. And I might even put a bag on my head and proclaim that they sound amazing well considering that they are made out of counter tops....

I love black guitars too!

Banging the thing with your keys as a demonstration is clever as well!

Epoxy has failed me here....Only thing that works on the black ones is CA. The black PLAM is different than the wood grained stuff. The black stuff is what we used to call "Color Core" in counter top material and is a solid plastic unlike the wood grained stuff which is phenolic reinforced paper inside.....

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Dave Nichols told me about a 3m product called:
Pr-600 scotch weld. But you can only get it in bulk which sucks.. but he said it's the only thing he could get to work..

Well, dang it. Glued and clamped it up this afternoon, then took a quick nap. When I returned, I found that all around the bridge there is a luminous sheen from the outgassing of the glue (I think that's what did it). Nothing will remove the stuff, either. I dulled the color a bit after resorting to maroon Scotchbrite, but it looks like it's on there permanently. I would try some black dye, but I've learned in cases like this that further attempts to hide some boogers just makes them more obvious. Bummer.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Pr-600 is CA. 3M is a great company as well that I know to make very high quality products.