Pristine 1941 Martin 000-18 on ebay

[morgan]

So many beautiful shots of this guitar (interior and exterior) I was almost tempted to post this in the gallery section

Looks in amazingly good condition.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1941-CF-Martin-Co-0 ... 336294d8c0

[morgan]

Looking at the interior shots of this Martin made me curious about some of it's construction. Does anybody here know what's going on with the sides? It looks like there are vertical strips of fabric tape(?) stuck along it at various points. What are these and what is their purpose?

[Bob Connor]

Side reinforcements.

They will stop a crack from spreading if the instrument gets a hit on the side.

Fabric is easy to install and very light in weight. Can be stuck with water down hide glue or Titebond

A lot of people us wooden side re-inforcements but unless you tuck them into your kerfed linings they can leave a stress riser right at the edge of the kerfed lining. This may lead to a more difficult repair if you get a knock in that area.

The cloth reinforcements extend to the edge of the side under the kerfed lings so you don't have to bother notching them in.

Myself - I use laminated sides so I don't have to bother with them.

Sensational looking 000 for it's age.

[John Maddison]

Truly a nicely made guitar, probably worth every penny of the $7k+ asking price, and some amazingly crisp images of same (esp. the interior).

I have a question that has lingered for a long time re the orientation of two bookmatched boards that make up a top; in one image of this Martin it is clear that the grain lines are WIDER apart near the join and DIMINISH in distance apart as the lines progress towards the edge of the instrument

Martin grain lines.jpg

I've always believed it's better to join two pieces of matching soundboard with the closer grain lines at the join; in the image above it's the exact opposite. In a recent baritone uke build I 'accidently' glued the two boards with wider grain lines at the join, but have kept the top in the hope that it'll still work fine - looking at the Martin build technique I'm now not so bothered.

Are there any hard-and-fast rules re: grain lines on joining two top boards that should apply for optimum acoustic tonality?

[Kim]

John, if there are incursions such as knots or localized runout on the finer edge near the bark, then they would joint toward the heart so they could use the wood.

Cheers

Kim

[Allen]

I think you'd need to assess each piece of wood on it's own merits. If the wood is equally stiff across the width and it's equally on, or for that matter off the 1/4, then it's just a matter of aesthetics.

[Bob Connor]

If the late grain lines are wider apart at the perimeter it MAY mean the the top is more flexible in that area and thus more desirable. (same sort of thing as thinning the perimeter to make it more flexible)

Regards

[John Maddison]

Thanks fellas ... all very useful and sound advice .