After concluding that the damage was so severe that the top could not be restored without compromising the guitar’s sound—not to mention its looks—I began the process of outfitting this fine instrument with a replacement soundboard.
This 1977 D-35 arrived at our shop with a big hole in its Sitka spruce soundboard and a bag of miscellaneous broken braces and slivers of spruce top wood.
The problem lay in the Multiplex adjustable bridge. The unit itself is made of metal, but the original saddles are made of nylon 6-6, a material used in bearings and gears due to its abrasion resistance and self-lubricating properties.
1. To repair the hacked-up body of this ’56 Esquire, I cut replacement pieces from old ash and shaped them to graft back into the guitar. 2. Today’s commercial
