Martin DC-16

It’s not “Trigger”, but it is a Martin and I took it from an unplayable piece of firewood, back to prime Martin sound and playability. Someone had really abused this poor thing and it was pure garbage. It had been allowed to dry out so badly that the back split (not even a two piece back), and the top spilt in three places. The sound board around the sound hole had sunken terribly, causing the previous owner to back-bow the neck just to get the action anywhere near playable. It sound like some cheap $80 starter guitar, or maybe worse. Add to that a damaged under-saddle pickup that squealed relentlessly and we have something that I really wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do anything with it.

Sound board sunk and these cracks you see went all the way through the top – I could through them in a few places.

Combination belly hump and sunken under the crack.

Another view of the major two cracks – the photos don’t actually show how bad they were. They actually flexed inwards at the slightest pressure and were at risk of a chunk breaking in completely.

Learned this humidification technique from you tube. Boil water, pour over super absorbent chamois cloth in a bowl small enough to sit inside the sound hole, then cover the sound hole and put the guitar inside a hard case. Reheat the rag every 6-8 hours until the wood is restored. This one took 3 full days. Afterwards though, the sound board was as flat as ever I could hope and it was time for the next step.

Used magnets inside and out to clamp a cleat across the crack until the glue dried. Same thing on the other cracks by the sound hole.

The next thing was to solve why the pickup was squealing. Some internet research suggested that the shielding was likely torn on the pickup element. I looked and looked and evening noticed the tiniest hairline crack in the foil, just in the very tip. A new under saddle pickup would be over $100, but I read somewhat that some thin copper foil tape wrapped around would fix the problem too. Unfortunately I didn’t have any, nor did Home Depot or Canadian Tire, and a roll ordered online would have been 2/3 the cost of just buying a new pickup. So, plan C … I had a roll of aluminum foil tape for doing furnace ducts, and figured I couldn’t do any worse that what already was. It was thicker than copper foil tape for electrical use, but what did I have to lose? Low and behold… it worked like a dream. Good crisp, clean sound.

The final fix was to replaced both the saddle and nut, which (unbelievably) we’re both broken. I don’t even know how you break a saddle, but I’m sure that’s how the pickup got damaged. So I ordered Martin specific saddle and nut from Tusq, and waited for their arrival. Finished product is below, and wow, what a success. It sounds just awesome and plays like new.