Official Luthiers Forum!

For as long as I've known my wife's boss George - 30+ years, he has been after his best friend to sell him one of his vintage Martins, both of which needed some repairs. Whenever the subject came up, he said that if he got his hands on one really liked, he wanted me to do the repairs.
Each time, I told him that I wasn't qualified to do anything more than changing the strings, but that I would be happy to help find someone who could do a proper job.
His friend took the guitars to a repairman, who did $2,500 worth of repairs to the 1920's Martin, making it playable again. The other guitar, which is a mid-1940, he had deemed to have too much damage to the body to be worth repairing. This is the part of the story where I thought that George would finally get his hands on the guitar, and that I would be asking OLFers to help find a reputable Toronto area repairman. I've seen enough vintage repair threads to know that almost anything is repairable, if you have the funds.
Well, the repairman offered $300 for the unrepairable guitar, which amounted to the sales tax owed on the repair work, which the friend promptly took! George has been after this guitar since they were in college together, and couldn't believe that it was gone for $300! My wife tells me that he is hoping that he can get his friend to get the guitar back from the repairman. I have my doubts on that happening. Hopefully, I'll get more details in the coming days.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Why would anyone offer $300 for an "unrepairable" guitar? I suppose if someone needed a neck and fingerboard to fit another 40's vintage Martin it might be possible, but that seems a bit unlikely.
George should just go find himself an old Martin that is playable and remember the adage- "thou shalt not covet thy neighbors guitar".

Isn't it "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors axe?"

Now that's funny!

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

I don't believe that any guitar is unrepairable unless it's been in a fire or a wood chipper. The repairman probably pulled one over your friend and got a guitar that's worth way more than 300 dollars after any work is done to repair it. Tops can always be replaced and backs and sides can be patched if necessary.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

"Isn't it "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors axe?""


I guess that depends whether it's acoustic or eclectic.