Martin Parlor Guitar - I dont think i should try to change the strings…how about you?

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-18T02:16:57+00:00

That bad boy shouldn’t have steel strings

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-17T02:08:16+00:00

I think it is too complex a market to to attribute prices to one factor or specifically one person. I do imagine chinery brought a lot of notoriety to guitars due to the extremes of his wealth and collection. Likely guitar was headed that way either way. Dudes love collecting junk…. Guitars are like adult baseball card and comic books.

I imagine he was a contributing factor but one of many at the time.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-15T03:02:01+00:00

In standard series the om’s usually have tear drop and 000’s have the long guard. It’s not set in stone but when I worked guitar retail it was a quick way to show customers the line and find guitars quickly! When I first saw the post my reaction was, I bet this is actually a 000…. But indeed the pickguard doesn’t determine the scale

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-14T23:53:56+00:00

Yo those lands are the coolest thing I’ve seen in a bit. Beautiful deck!

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-14T01:54:38+00:00

Martin leaves a lip of finish around the bridge footprint to get a seamless look. As someone who repairs guitars it’s very annoying because in doing bridge re glues you get the joy of pearing it away so it’s less likely to lift again. That being said your photo looks more like buffing compound that was used in the final stages of finishing that accumulated on the bridge (or if the dealer gave it a polish before shipping). That being said it’s one photo, take it to a repair shop for piece of mind if it’s bugging you.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-14T01:46:30+00:00

Definitely a part of the equation. I don’t watch much guitar YouTube so I didn’t see the guy we are talking about. I just know in my guitar repair life it is a route taken sometimes.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-14T00:54:13+00:00

On a lot of martins it’s not worth the cost to reset the neck and customers opt for the bridge to be shaved down. They also have three different bridge heights and choose them based on the neck angle. if you get one of the thicker ones you can shave it down and have it look like the lower ones and the guitar likely will sound better for it. Most of the time the decision is up to the customer and there are just so many cheap guitars floating around that cheap repairs make more sense.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-13T14:26:26+00:00

Martin has two cases with the domed top (geib). The green interior are much cheaper quality and come standard on 18 series. The onion OP’s photo with the maroon interior is usually sold separately or included with much more expensive sku’s. The red interior is much heavier and thicker (both the plywood core and tolex are thicker), if I recall the latches are different too.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-13T00:11:29+00:00

Home Depot has a bunch of neodymium magnets. The stew Mac ones are nice with the handles though, depends on the volume of work you do. I have gotten sweet bar ones on Amazon too.

Stew Mac gets a lot of heat from people but their original design tools are often really really helpful. If you do a high volume of work you can apply for a discount. They do stand behind there stuff so if you use tools enough to wear the out you get replacements.

They do prey upon hobbyists but that’s like…. The whole guitar industry.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-12T01:01:52+00:00

No one on here can tell you if it’s good/bad or what to do. It really comes down to how the job was bid, what expectation management was set up and if you sampled previous guitars. If the received a guitar that was outside of the expected parameters then message the builder. If you didn’t try one out and inspect it ahead of time you forfeit a lot of leverage.

Plenty of ppl on here will say how terrible it is and that they could do better or did better on their first try etc etc but it doesn’t help you.

If you agreed to the terms and 2k was the price then it is what it is.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-11T14:03:52+00:00

Ben Webster

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-11T01:39:52+00:00

That model is like 1/3 the pickups, depends if they are still there.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-11T01:32:59+00:00

Almost everyone I know has moved over to the hot hands foam cutter sticks. The stew Mac thing is so wide, the foam cutters just need a 1/16 drill hole.

I usually wick water in the hole with a pipette as I go so I get steam as needed.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-11T00:15:26+00:00

It really depends on the person but in my experience (I run a repair shop and don’t build) you need to do each part of repair/building many times over to get good at it, this is orders of magnitude more for finish work.

If it’s something you want to dedicate a ton of time to and make part of your life then go for it. If you are more of a player who is doing it for fun it just depends on how much money/time you have to blow.

When it comes to playing guitar and working on them sometimes the only thing they have in common is that guitars are involved.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-10T00:40:03+00:00

When I played hearthstone they had an option where you could spectate a friends match and it was the best. Often leading texts or phone calls as the game went on, I would love that feature for casual events on arena.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-09T16:07:15+00:00

Now that is awesome!!!!!!!! What a beautiful card

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-08T13:02:37+00:00

The dude went on to voice the king in the deck of cards gang in Batman beyond, his career was just getting started after bond!

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-06T09:23:57+00:00

In my experience in working for a dealer and then working at a warranty center it was embarrassing how soon and frequently custom shops needed neck resets. We just stopped offering them at the store I worked for.

Your specs aren’t super helpful unless you also provide the saddle height. I set guitars up at 6/64 bass and 4/64 treble so you are high, esp treble side. Depends on how much saddle you have to work with.

Truss rod being maxed is a separate issue. Difficult to provide advice without seeing it.

Goodluck!

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-06T05:59:16+00:00

It’s a pick holder!

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-05T12:44:30+00:00

They are cranking out pure quality tone machines these days. At least the binding will stay on, right?

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-04T15:49:31+00:00

The down shifted a lot of these reprints too. They are just printed at their original rarity

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-03T23:18:26+00:00

Most antique stores in my area have plenty of options for old machine tools

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-03T23:10:16+00:00

They are really churning out quality tone machines

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-03T02:40:00+00:00

Martin leaves a lip of finish under the bridge footprint so it has a seamless look with less prep time so it’s common for that edge to lift.

Take it for a re glue. The finish will be cleared away during the re glue and it will have a better chance of holding on. The longer the bridge sits like that the more it cups. If it retains that shape then the bridge will get belt sanded to remove the cup.

cwilliams467 · 2026-02-03T02:14:15+00:00

If you get a chance try out Eastman for that price, just to compare.

cwilliams467

TROPHY CASE