Repairing a Martin OM28V - A new top

Putting a new sitka spruce top onto a Martin OM28V.
Instagram: @gmrupcycling

[@rodfrey]

I love how gentle you are in describing the owner's original efforts. They got in over their head, but you don't ridicule them for it, even in your expression. It shows a deep kindness.

[@larryatha3221]

I have enjoyed watching this. It’s neat to see different skilled and experienced luthiers solve problems. I only build guitars and haven’t tried to do any big repairs. I like to see how you have approached your challenges. Thanks for sharing!

[@craigwilliams6145]

Good to see you back again Gabi. Excellent video.

[@garcdonald]

Love your woodworking skill.

[@dalloguitars]

always splendid work! stay healthy too Gabriele.

[@stevesuv]

I think your work is top notch. Keep it up. Great Job

[@jimf4492]

That was superb! Thanks again for sharing your excellent work.

[@johncronin2929]

Hi Gabbi, I love this video, having tried to repair an instrument last year! Also love the drum sander, you inspire us with what can be done!

[@paulomeyer3900]

Welcome back to the channel!

[@Elise_Guitars]

Amazing work! Also your drum sander is genius.

[@robinjones6692]

Always full of great ideas and inspiration. Wonderful video Gabriele 😊🌹Ps, great to see you back.

[@2old4u]

Another great project. Skill and craftsmanship are always valuable and informative things to share. Thanks for letting us watch. Well done.

[@sebastienromain6510]

I love your jobs, such a talented luthier! Brava !!🎉

[@FDNY8231]

Awesome Job Gabi ... Nice lefty Martin! 👍👍

[@marcusm.8374]

Great job! Congrats.

[@tedrowland7800]

Very nice Gabrielle. I always learn so much from you. Sometimes, you re-enforce in my mind why I need to buy certain tools. Yours from across the pond, Teddy

[@ronboff3461]

excellent luthier lesson! excellent work! thank you....

[@CMRWoodworks]

Excellent work!

[@johnwhelan6115]

Absolutely superb Luthier/Craftswoman skills. Very well done. Thank you for the time you have taken to produce both this stunning repair and this excellent video Gabi. Best regards - John in UK.

[@dcallan1]

Love the detailed hand work, some improvised shop tools, and the singing! Very informative and relaxing. I thought the way you score the bracing before scalloping was genius.

[@davidchickmaher6855]

Talk about talent, it was amazing seeing her taking this guitar apart and making the entire top and binding from scratch is just amazing talent.. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@tony5339]

Quite an undertaking to replace the top on a Martin ... very nicely done. Looks as good as factory.

[@mariolombardi3864]

Great work, truely a labor if love.

[@Cosmicline429]

Beautiful Work! Awesome! ♥

[@ufoman4468]

Such a special Lady. I would suggest your Craftswomanship is well on a par if not above that of Martin. " Just my opinion ". This lovely lady sure knows her business . Thank you it was a privilege to watch you work. I was humming along with you all the way 😀

[@abloke8834]

What a marvellous repair. I really enjoyed this. Many thanks from a very wet England.

[@GabiM3112]

We're having a lot of rain here as well... So, maybe no EU memebership any more but we still share the same weather. ;-)

[@csnelling4]

Super job , Gabriele 👏👏👏👏👌🍷🥇

[@myguitarworkshop]

That went with a bang, would have scared me to death. Great job

[@GabiM3112]

Yes, my heart skipped a beat. ;-)

[@johngeddes7894]

Very nice indeed! One point worth considering is the possibility of sawing the fingerboard extension to remove the neck from the body, which is rarely done these days. If it does become necessary, there are some brilliant luthiers that make the cut at the tenth fret or twelfth even, so that more rigidity is possible after glue up; a stronger solution than a cut at the 14th fret (when referring to a guitar whose neck joins the body at the 14th fret. Anyway, it looks like the retop turned out beautifully!

[@malcolmjames1866]

Nice job, Gabe.

[@kellycarmouche7452]

😀You have given me the courage to try my hand at making my own instrument. You shown the good, the bad, the ugly and scary of being a luthier with a fearlessness and humility that is beautiful to watch! Many thanks from a new subscriber! ❤🎸

[@GabiM3112]

Hey there. Get started and maybe you can share your process. Good luck.

[@terryjohinke8065]

Gabby, I love your hand work. Rosettes are a pig- I built a Stewmac dreadnought with Herringbone in 2004/5. Once again your chisel work is better than any I've seen in forty years of repairs, builds, modifications etc. Even my Greek mate , Dimitri , ( a cabinet maker by trade) was in awe of your work.I too use a finger plane. if you lived here in Australia you could have a shed, like I had, 4 mx 6m and in that have a bench, desk, hang tools,clamps, vices etc. just like most Aussie builders. I lost mine to divorce. A lot of work in that 14th. fret. You stay well and heathy too. Cheers from Downunder, Terry.

[@edwardpetersen4309]

Much respect! Ab fab job. Love the purfling steamer . . . you could stick a carrot or two in there as well🙃

[@guycewilkerson9858]

I love watching you work. It would nice if you could talk about what you are doing and explain the techniques and your thought process while you are doing the work.

[@GabiM3112]

Hi there, Guyce. Thanks, I have other videos in which I do that, but I find too much talking unneccesary and to be frank, often somewhat annoying. There are many videos online in which people do that overecessively, so I don't feel like I need to add too much to a world of over information. In addition, voiceovers mean even more work for producing a video. And those are work intensive and time consuming as well. It's not that I make anything from the videos I upload. So what you see is what you get, I'm afraid.

[@kiddcomet3563]

Amazing job 👍👍

[@philipkotze8327]

Better than the original version

[@keithk3567]

Your videos are just fascinating. I love seeing a quality instrument saved and you did a wonderful job. I think it might be better than new! How long did it take? Have a great day.

[@GabiM3112]

I did this over a couple of weeks. Here and there some working on it (next to my real work). There was no hurry, so I took my time.

[@martinlouden9005]

An absolutely superb job Gabi. It would have been nice to hear you play it if it wasn’t a lefty!

[@brianogrady7900]

Superb skill

[@stevesuv]

You have a fan in me. I wish you could have found a set of Adi or evin Karpathian top. Im not a huge fan of Sitka. Great work.

[@davidlacroix6769]

I’ve never seen a neck come off that easy. I think Martin was trying to save on glue the day they built that one. Love watching a true craftsperson at work.

[@tricosteryl]

This joinery doesnt need glue, it is a traditional joint. Glue is just here to prevent buzz. Glueing is the Plague of today's woodworking

[@inbozz]

Firstly the job is absolutely fantastic. As far as the neck joint goes its kind of a locking joint, the tension of strings helps it stay firmer in the place. As far as the gluing goes, there’s just enough glue in Martins to help the neck stay in place a bit. There’s more glue between the fretboard and the top, then in the neck joint (and just maybe it was their goal initially) Perhaps the Martins long-term and everyone,s today’s philosophy is the less glue, the better the sound is (like the vibration thrashers from the neck better etc. 🙄🤨). For interest and in case you have not heard yet, browse about what the Riversong from Canada made to their neck fixing, top bracing and many other things in their design. I’m kinda inclining towards adopting a few ideas from the Riversong and build a guitar (in case there’ll be no issues with the ownership rights). And yes again, absolutely fantastic job. In all honesty I myself in the past refused to take this kind of jobs, as there are just way too many variables and it does not really pay off considering how much time you’d spend for the job. In case of Gabriel (applause 👏) (hope spelled it right from the memory) its a very rewarding hobby, not the main job as she said toward the end of the video.

[@tricosteryl]

@@inbozz Fully agree. When glueing is needed, it is better to use reversible glue so future repair won't be destructive to the instrument !

[@inbozz]

@@tricosteryl oh, just watch about the Riversong guitars, in case you haven’t so far. The idea is kinda from a cigar box guitar, but I just wonder about the possible noise from vibration in the lose joint.

[@tricosteryl]

@@inbozz Martin just glued the fingerboard on the soundboard. I should have added that for precision in my saying. Thank you for riverside guitars I didn't know until then, their system is very innovative and clever :) I think the fingerboard is glued to the soundboard and the whole think move a bit with the "neck through" adjustement.

[@mccypr]

Thanks! 😎

[@domingocorralhernandez9887]

Bravo el trabajo 👏👏👏🤗

[@johnmcneil9164]

The fret board is an important brace. Better to cut at the 12th. Cutting at 14th weakens it forever.

[@GabiM3112]

Well, good I didn't need to cut it in the first place. ;-)

[@user-nn9go6tj3b]

Just a touch of feedback here....slotted or not the string ball never rests on the end of the pin but does rest along side the pin and against the bridge plate......60 years talking here.

[@GabiM3112]

I know that but it does sit more on the plate proportionally (in relation to the normal case) when you slot the bridge and use unslotted pins. For me personally, the difference is not significant enough to do that on my guitars. It's just that the owner wanted it that way and there are some who demonstrate a noticeable difference. See Driftwood guitars on that matter. But again: for me, it's good enough to have a good break angle.

[@user-nn9go6tj3b]

OK Got it....just recently I bought some ebony pins and didn't see they were not slotted.....so I slotted them! I think it's a cleaner job without bridge slots....BTW a middle ground is T Woodford sometimes makes a string groove in the bridge to get a better break angle when the saddle is getting low.

[@GabiM3112]

That's what I do, even if the saddle doesn't go too low.

[@howardklein9834]

Martin would be proud of your work.

[@douglasmorrison9098]

You must watch Jerry Rosa from Rosa String Works because I see a lot of him in the way you do things

[@DesimoneAmps]

A very fine work and video! What thickness gave it to the new top?

[@GabiM3112]

around 2,3mm

[@steveburrows101]

Really enjoyed that Gabi, wonderful work, thank you. One question... early on you seemed to refer to the owner wanting to use unslotted bridge pins so that the ball ends would be held firmly against the bridge plate instead of sitting on the ends of the pins? Why? I have always used slotted pins but the ball ends of my strings are always hard against the bridge plate - I check by fell through the soundhole to ensure this, the slots in the bridge pins merely provide a channel for the string from topside to underside of the bridge in my mind... what have I missed / misunderstood in your explanation? Thanks.

[@GabiM3112]

Personally I prefer ordinary bridge pins as well, but for an explanation, you might want to watch this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGW4laidgrNmiLM

[@steveburrows101]

Thank you. i understand now. I've previously slotted the top of my bridge string holes to improve break angle, and I suspect that's more than half the benefit, along with ebony pins. Not personally convinced that slotting the string holes adds much energy transfer to the top. Might try it on a "beater" some day.

[@GabiM3112]

That's what I think, too. I normally influence the break angle and that's good enough for me. :-)

[@sl8ofhand]

Lovely work. I am still a bit confused. Does Martin use decals for sound hole rosettes on the vintage series 28s?

[@GabiM3112]

No, it was actually a very thin wood inlay. The same goes for the purfling.

[@KingMrColin]

Could you explain about the thickness sander we see @14:40 please? Did you make this yourself and where do you source the cylinder? I tried making one myself but it had too much wobble to be useful 😢 so I am considering to trying again. Thanks for sharing your great work.

[@GabiM3112]

Hello, there. I tried to make it from scratch as well in the beginning but whatever axis I used, it just wouldn't be completely straight and I had the same effect as you do at first. Then I searched for rolls with axis holes and found some in the business for converyor belts and this is what I use for the cylinder. It has perfect centre holes and I use a threaded rod that goes into ball bearings at the end.

[@KingMrColin]

Quick question. When you are joining your plates, do you have to do any alignment of the jig sides or trimming of plate sides to ensure the wedge applies the same pressure to the upper corner of the plate as to the lower corner? I.e. how do you ensure even pressure?

[@GabiM3112]

I‘m not sure I understand what you mean. Do you mean the contact surface between the two piecec of the top? In case that‘s what you want to know: I put the two pieces onto each other as I would be closing a book and then use a plane on some kind of shooting board for getting a straight edge and the glue the two pieces together. You can see that from minute 6:00. The wedge is kind of adjustable. I have different holes in my table I can screw the respective board to and this way influence the angle my wedge goes in. But normally my original boards have parallel sides, so that there's hardly no adjustment necessary.

[@bomabitria7577]

nice job madam gabbi

[@sarcletti]

Gabi, I love your repair work, but pls talk more about your emotions. What was most challenging? What made you happy? How difficult was bracing. How difficult putting herringbone in relation to rosette making? How difficult was it to choose the right spruce? Men make much more ado about simpler worksteps. So, in order to get adequate attention for professional work .... try to mimik!

[@GabiM3112]

I am making a video of another build with audio commentary, for people who like that, but normally it's just me doing my thing, since making those videos is time consuming enough as they are and I don't see the use in talking too much since you can see what I'm doing in the video anyways. To answer your questions: Beforehand I was worried about the neck giving me more pain, but that went surprisingly well. The top: the owner and I agreed on having the same kind of spruce on top and I took one of the sets I had here. The herringbone was very easy since it only took 3-5 minutes in my steamer so that it would be bendable and I just used the existing guitar as a reference for the shape as you can see, which went well also. When I sing/hum and don't curse, it obviously gives me joy. ;-)

[@sarcletti]

@@GabiM3112 Thank you so much for your all your work and explanations.

[@martinlouden9005]

A beautiful rescue of a very badly butchered guitar Gabi.

[@howardcrane5902]

It’s more of a resurrection than a rescue.

[@divinoferreira4958]

Obrigado muito bom ver graças

[@philipchung9492]

Did someone at the factory put white paper shim in the dovetail joint.

[@GabiM3112]

Obviously. It wasn't even wood.

[@simpleone1989]

21:49 Jump scare!

[@Mike_Hoffmann]

So a Mareti now

[@crazycat1345]

If you have a Martin you will need to do many repairs.

[@starfighter2952]

I bought a martin and hardly play it. And still it needs repair. Back cracked even in good humidity.

[@stevesuv]

How could anyone sand a top so thin you could punch your finger through it? Jesus Christ!

[@BrennanShepard]

What type of finish did you use on the top?

[@GabiM3112]

Tru Oil.

[@sutorguitarsbytondewit6854]

nice work Gabriele, are you in the ggbo2023 you champion 😍

[@GabiM3112]

Hi there, yes I'm in. I hope you're with us as well.

[@sutorguitarsbytondewit6854]

@@GabiM3112 well, Ill be watching you, cause I cant hold a candlle to you

[@GabiM3112]

@@sutorguitarsbytondewit6854 That's kind of you to say but you'd be in a different category, wouldn't you. So, sharpen your chisels, my friend. See you there.

[@billmiller9332]

Would it be possible to replace the back and sides of a 20 year old martin and keep the neck and top?

[@GabiM3112]

Hm, I think you could do a lot of things. You would have to take care of taking the top off intact and then use it for the new body you'd make. Or you could fix the other parts, unless you'd want a different wood for the body but that good old top.

[@billmiller9332]

@@GabiM3112 Yes The wood on the backs and sides are laminate, this guitar is very dear to me. I have a d28 that cost more but this one has been with me through alot. I want to improve her open up the sound, the top has aged so well and the neck is just right for me!

[@GabiM3112]

Hm, I guess one could do that but I'm wondering whether it will do so much since you can't tell what direction the sound will go. Solid backs and sides - at least to my ears - do something to improve overall sound but if you like the tonal colouring of your guitar, you may not like the "new" sound since it will be certainly different. Maybe you'd like to talk to a professional luthier about that before tampering with a guitar you really like and then may not like the outcome. The first better guitar I owned, though, had a solid back and laminate sides and that already improved the sound, so maybe you'd like to go for that option first.

[@aquajew3000]

What were the things you put in the soldering irons?

[@GabiM3112]

I cut peices from a threaded bar of 3mm diameter and then sanded the threading back somewhat, so that it would go in and out more easily.

[@aquajew3000]

What material? I was thinking of doing something similar with solid core copper wire.

[@GabiM3112]

@@aquajew3000 As I said, an ordinary threaded bar, like you can get them at home depot. Copper wasn't available, particularly not that size. Of course, if you have it, use it.

[@Sammywhat]

Hi Gabriele, just a quick heads up that your instagram isn't working. (i'm guessing you know, but in case you don't...) ♥

[@GabiM3112]

Hi there, thank you. No, I didn't know and I don't know why. I'm rarely using it and only set it up because it was a prerequisite for last year's GGBO (initially). But thanks for telling me.

[@harimengek4968]

Mother,Menggunakan oil apa? suntuk menge cat pada body gitar. Terimakasih

[@GabiM3112]

Tru OIl.

[@harimengek4968]

Ok

[@trangnguyentv076]

😂❤️🎸💐👍

[@joelpinguim7660]

👍94👏

[@kft590]

What a shame the grain on the original top was gorgeous.

[@aussiecue]

The one she put on was better.

[@gibsonlg2453]

A New top from aliexpress.?

[@GabiM3112]

Err... no.

[@thegram9207]

So - no agenda? Just a woman working ? Performing a perfect job.......And singing too. Love it. Maybe there is hope. The mending of the fret board I found especially impressive.

[@bobperu1]

I wonder if her husband knows how lucky he is?

[@GabiM3112]

Interesting you say that because where I come from men don't seem to like women like me in that reagrd...

[@douglasmorrison9098]

I saw right off you dont know what you are talking about when you talked about thos strings ends locking against the bottm end of that peg. Ive played Guitar all my life since I was 7 years old and am now 79 years old and have played mainly Martin Dreadnaughts, Gibson Dreadnaughts and Epiphone Dreadnaughts which area Cheaper made Gibson but still a good quality instrument and learned at an EARLY AGE ON that you should bevel off those peg ends so the string end will come past the peg end and lock against the Bridge plate inside that Guitar thus better passing of the sound of that string to the body of that guitar thus A LOT BETTER SOUNDING INSTRUMENT and if you REALLY want a VERY GOOD SOUNDING GUITAR You use BONE for the bridge saddle because that also will help transfer the string sound to that guitar body But if you hang the end of that string against the end of that peg you will deaden the sound of that string and could also cause that peg to fly out of that bridge and coceivably if you are tuning that guitar like tat it could put your eye out. Think you need to go watch Rosa String works shop for a good explanation of that because thay is what he has done his whole life for a living is build Stringed instruments and you cant buy one of his instruments UNDER 7000 dollars

[@GabiM3112]

Err...I don't see you point because that was exactly what I said. With the usual method, the pins only press partly against the bridge plate, the other part of it puts pressure on the end of the pin ... see: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGW4laidgrNmiLM The owner wanted unslotted pins, so I did it the way he liked it. For my own guitars I prefer adjusting the break angle of the string and use slotted pins. You can always turn them around if you wish to. In former times I beveled them. but I don't feel that's a necessity anymore when you have the slot in the bridge because that ensures a proper fit and you can take out the pins completely and the string would still sit in the slot. I have even sawn my first test build guitar into half, just like Chris Alvarado does in his "breakdown" videos, made the experiment and could clearly see the difference where the pins, ball ends and bridge plate meet whee you cut a bridge slot. Normally I use bone pins but some guitars sound better with wooden pins and some even with brass. I find there's no absolute rule for that. Cheers.

[@douglasmorrison9098]

@@GabiM3112 UH No thats not what you said. What you said was you needed to make a channel up through that peg so the string would hook on the peg and when you hook that string on the end of that peg you essentially deaden that string. The more contact that string can have to the body of that guitar the more effective that string will sound. As a matter of fact every time put strings on my guitar I reached through the sound hole and made sure that string end went completely against the bridge plate. Even my Epiphone EJ200 Had a Good rich sound almost as good as the Gibson Dove had

[@GabiM3112]

@@douglasmorrison9098 Hi Douglas, sorry but you are mistaken. I said with SLOTTED pins the string ran in the slot of the pin, thus sitting more on the end of the pin than solely on the bridge plate (where it should sit and produce the most contact), and that the agenda/theory/wish of the owner was to make the string run in the slotted BRIDGE rather than in the slot of the pin. I didn't say the agenda was to slot the pin because I used unslotted pins here. I just explained the difference between where the string runs in "normal" guitars without a slotted bridge but slotted pins. See 5:20 onwards. I can see though why the way I explained it can be confusing. But then again, English is not my mother tongue. ;-)

[@douglasmorrison9098]

@@GabiM3112 You are right about the string should be in the top end of the slot on that pin but eventually the string will cut a slot into the bridgeand when the slot gets deep enough the bridge will need replacing because with the deepening of that slot the string angle across the bone will get sharper until you wont be able to keep strings on the guitar thus the bridge will need replacing and a lot of guitar owners dont realize this and will also affect the tuning on that guitar to a certain extent

[@douglasmorrison9098]

@@GabiM3112 I have seen those slots in the bridge get deep enough to where it cracked the bridge thru the hole and out the front side of the bridge . The Gibson J200 with the mustache bridge was really bad about that but the Epiphone EJ200 wasnt . The Gibson Dove was the best guitar I ever owned.

[@tedrobinson3802]

Would have been better off to beat the owner with that guitar

[@michaeljuarez1654]

I don't think this is a real Martin, most likely a Chinese knock off. Very good work though.

[@GabiM3112]

Well, according to serial numbers on the body and neck it's the real deal. Workmanship inside the box was also very good and it had the typical Martin thing with the tuner washers. The only thing I found below standard is the papaer shim on the neck joint and the fact that the neck wasn't sitting tightly after taking those off. I had to make new wooden shims for it to sit nicely.

[@yunowot]

I suppose that if you take a Martin, make dents in it and then try to sand below the level of the dent(s) it won't look like a Martin any longer until some radical, excellent repair like this is done.

[@af2w131f]

@@GabiM3112 That bridge definitely is not from a real Martin OM-28V. Google search OM-28V, look at the bridge of a real one.

[@GabiM3112]

@af2w131f Well, it was, but he had sanded the bridge as well, and worked on the break angle as well, as you can see. Hence the weird shape. You can still see the extra wide saddle slot, though.

[@af2w131f]

@@GabiM3112 he straight up mangled the bridge. You can fix the break angle without mangling the overall shape of it. Reminds me of that woman in Spain that tried to "restore" that old Jesus painting and she ended up making it look like a monkey.

[@queerstars1]

And, it only took an hour! 😊 jk