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Guitar Restorations: 1935 Martin D18, Part 4--Dressing the Frets, Nut and Saddle Guitar restoration specialist Andy Jellison puts the finishing touches on a vintage acoustic Martin D18 guitar. From "Handmade Music" episode DHMM-307

In this final installment of the Handmade Music series focusing on guitar restorations, months of work culminate in the final phases of the repair and refurbishment of a 1935 Martin D18 guitar.

Andy Jellison, repair technician with the Nashville's world-famous Gruhn Guitars, has dedicated most of his summer to this project. His work on this instrument is nearly done.

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Steps included in this final phase of the restoration include general setup, dressing the frets, replacing the nut and saddle, and giving those last two elements a special treatment to help ensure that they don't look "too new" for a 1935 guitar. After some final tweaks, Andy is ready for shop proprietor and world renowned guitar expert George Gruhn to review his work.

Materials:

router
hammer
metal snips
straight edge
files
crowning file
sanding blocks
sandpaper
bone nut and saddle blanks
polish
cup of coffee

	The newly installed tuners are not originals, but they are vintage replicas. According to George Gruhn, the replicas actually function better than the originals.

Martin D18 Guitar: History and Repair Recap

This vintage Martin D18 is one from the year 1935, only the second year this model was offered in this body configuration and with the 14-fret neck. "This is a very important historical instrument," says George Gruhn, "and a very valuable guitar."

The value of this one, which was in fairly rough shape when it was brought in to Gruhn's, can be either helped or hurt depending on the skill of the repair technician. Andy Jellison is regarded as one of the best vintage guitar specialists working in the field, but even he had some reservations about this particular piece when it first arrived.

So far Andy has had to repair several cracks in the body and the neck. The guitar was also in desperate need of a neck set, and that required the addition of shims to support the dovetail. A pick guard was made from scratch to put in place of an earlier one that was non-original and not suited to this model guitar. After plugging extra large holes in the peg head, Andy restored tuners to their original look. Although the tuners are new, they are period-correct vintage replicas.

When we last saw Andy at work, he had just pressed the new frets into place on the fret board. Now he begins the final setup for this guitar by cleaning the new frets up and dressing them. Dressing the frets marks one of the last phases of this guitar's journey from disrepair to true restoration.

	Figure A
	Figure B

Martin D18 Setup: Dressing the Frets

• With the frets already put in place Andy begins dressing them. That task starts by hammering each end down along the neck. Then each end is clipped flush with the fret board (figure A).

• A fret file is employed next. It runs along the finger board to make sure that the end of the fret is flush against the ebony and that it is smooth.

• At the end of each piece of fret wire, a file is used to round over the tips of the frets (figure B).
  

  	Figure C
  	Figure D

• With a sanding block Andy levels all frets so that their height above the fingerboard is uniform (figure C).

• A crowning file transforms the frets from flat to a more rounded configuration (figure D) that will be more "player friendly" after strings come in contact with the metal.

• Sanding with finer grit paper up and down the board dresses the frets and the ebony even further.

• Finally, just a little polish wraps things up for the frets.

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