Jerry, I am sorry to have inflicted all the pain on your arms and hands. Now I feel bad.....but at the same time, I feel great having my old Martin back. Can't thank you enough !! Oh, the title of the video says HD18..... it's an HD28. I knew it was just a typo. See you on Tuesday at the jam.
Okay I'll admit it. My names Gil & I have a sickness. I can watch these repair videos 24/7. Whether it's watching steam coming out the drill holes for a neck removal, or watching some one sand sealer off a guitar or bass body, I'm glued to the screen. Yes it's most def a sickness, but I've decided...why fight it, just "go with it".
@@hijmestoffels5171 I don't know the name of our affliction.All I know is I have it. I've decided NOT to resist it, in any way, shape, or form. Rather, I've decided I will live with it, & accept the consequences.
I admire your resolve, and confidence. To work on these high end instruments you better know exactly what your doing. You do, and the results speak for themselves. Good job.
Always happy to see your persistence pay off. Glad to see what my father would refer to as a man who takes pride in his work. I wish you a your family good health
A bitnof science for you from a chemist. If you are heating wet material, you limit the temperature to the boiling temperature and limiting the exposure to very high heat. It also absorbs a lot of energy so your heater will show lower temperature...
Dear Sir, I'm always fascinated by your patience : whatever your skills and long experience, you prove that matter always rules! As a physicist, it's not a surprise for me, but your videos show that modesty is always the mark of good artisans... Unglueing a neck or bridge on an acoustic guitar, is always a devilish job if you don't want to ruin or break anything
I’m glad there are people like you on RUclips sharing your years ok knowledge. Not just telling you how to do things but showing the work and how to overcome obstacles in the process.
Jerry, have you ever thought of a 'Pressure Cooker' vessel to produce your steam? There's a rocker on top and I believe you could manufacture a 90 degree outlet to the top outlet and run the plastic hose off the 90 degree add-on and still have a rocker for safety on top. They're usually built real sturdy and can pick them up, with a little luck, at a second-hand store.
I love seeing you take on these projects - and, as much as you sigh that "this is going to be tough one", I think you secretly relish the challenge to some extent. The results are always stunning - and if I could afford a custom-built acoustic, you'd be the guy I'd turn to.
Look at a product called Ov Gloves to keep yourself from getting burnt. They are small enough you might be able to get a hand thru the sound hole. If they don’t work out you can give them to your wife to use in the kitchen. Love your videos. Hi from Vancouver Island.
I love your videos. I wish someone would invent a tiny router on the end of a flexible shaft, to rout off an obstinate bridge plate. When the temperature of the bridge heater dropped, nothing was wrong. The energy was going into boiling the water away rather than increasing the temperature. It could not increase beyond the boiling point of water until the water was gone.This is the Latent Heat of Vaporization.
Maybe a dumb question, but why don’t you use some masking tape or 😊pastiche film to protect the adjacent finish, when you are sticking those knives in? I know the are flat and very thin, but it seems like it would be easy to accidentally scratch or even gouge the finish when you have to use some much force to get them in.
Jerry, you really need to look after yourself! That "Bridge Heater" is VERY HOT. You can always buy a new guitar, mandolin or even a banjo if you must! However, if you drop that heater on your right hand you won't be able to PLAY any of them!!! 32:50 Jerry - "Oh, Thank you, this bridge is coming off real EASY" Everybody else - "D'Oh! Surely you know better by now that you can't call ANY job "EASY"!! You are asking for trouble with that kind of comment!" Even you forget "ROSA'S LUCK" some days!!
I’m just wondering if you put a steel flange on your heater, to grab the backside then pull while heater is in place, will that work? Just thinking out loud.
Doing hard things is what craftsmen do- thanks for the awesome insight into these processes. There are some thin heat resistant gloves out there in the bbq world that might help you with burn concerns- cheers!
My 1983 HD-28 needs everything you just did. I just sighted down the body at the nut and sure enough it was way above. Perhaps 3/8 inch just like this one. But I think I'll just sell it to someone who likes cowboy chords. And buy a new HD-28 that has a truss rod. I love the sound of the HD-28. I especially like that low end because I play a lot of muted thumping of those bottom end strings. I also tune the whole thing down a full step.
I feel like I am working on this with you. And I am going "What if you...", But then I remembered I have no idea what you were trying to do most of the time, haha. Glad I never worked on any acoustics.
I have a wallpaper steamer. It’s a big plastic container with a heater in it a pressure cap like a rad cap on a car radiator. It takes about 15 mins to start steaming and it’s good to go for about 20 minutes. Relatively cheap had it for a long time. Lots of water contained in box and safety with pressure cap.
Would it be possible to drill two holes in that heater bar, tap them and then insert two screws through two holes in the bridge. The screws would hold the heater bar in place flush up against the inside and you wouldn't have to hold it. Just an idea.
At around 22:30 you sort of quit for the day after being unable to remove the last quarter of the bridge plate. Then, the video picks up again with you measuring and cutting the new padouk bridge plate. What happened with that STUBBORN last piece of the old bridge plate? You didn't show yourself finally getting it removed! That was what I was hangin' around for -- to see you exultantly conquering that last piece of bridge plate! ??? Or did I somehow miss that part?
Have you considered putting some fiberglass insulation tape around the unused faces on the spicy end of your heater? Same idea as wrapping motorcycle pipes with tape, the tape gets almost as hot as the pipes but since the FG doesn't transfer heat as fast you have time to move away before you get a nasty 2nd degree contact burn. Should be able to hold it on with something as simple as wire. The sensor going wild is an indicator of a bad connection somewhere on the thermocouple, or it touching the grounded shield. I have a similar PID controller I use to keep a curing box at a fixed temp with a heater/circulator and it started doing the same thing, found the TC junction was broken and making intermittent contact. Easiest fix is a new TC sensor since they're usually cheap, but I was able to get mine functional again just by twisting the TC wires together.
???? QUESTION: When I see the effort and heat that goes into removing these bridges, I wonder if using a router jig like you did for the area under the bridge could be used to route/mill away all but a few thousandths of an inch of the bridge? It would seem that only a little heat and water would be needed to get that last bit out. The heat would go right to the glue joint, rather than heating the whole bridge and surrounding area. Or maybe even mill right to the surface, similar to what you did here for the veneer fill piece?
I think is a bit of a testament to the builders of old Martins ( and many other of course) that it is so hard to take apart, even your own repairs seem so good as I'm sure yer afeared going back into one, except of course you know all the materials etc. etc., and I think the craftsmen that put them together didn't expect some parts to come off/depart/un-glue. I have a very silly question that occurred to me watching you heat the glue from inside then outside, which didn't really work until you started adding some moisture, is if you have ever consider an opposite approach, I mean using NO2 and freezing in a very controlled manner, keeping the top dry so as to be not affected and maybe wet the part to be removed? I know its goofy but I am a curious sort eh and if I had the stuff to experiment I likely would but for now just keep my knives and chisels sharp and my fingers intact :) Cheers to you Jerry on that project and love and respect from PNW Canada, all the best to you and yours man!
@@zapa1pnt Yeah I had a feeling that would probably be the issue, even with oiling (?) the inside of the top around what you don't want to shatter, oh well matey, just thinkin' outside the box then. Love your work and dedication and I surely feel your frustration sometimes when dealing with the really borked gits, thank you for sharing your knowledge and adventures, good health to you and yours' and look forward to more learning :) Cheers from BC Can.
Steaming the old hyde glue worked wonders..I love real hyde glue for all my repair work ...from a retired trained award winning master luthier...I do yell out occasionally at your approach to repairs...repairmen are a differnt artist than a builder..combining both is a wonderful challenge for the talented folks who live to do....and not sleep thru life...thank you sir.
Jerry: that's a hd-28. The d18 has mahogany back and sides with black binding. The hd28 has rosewood back and sides, two piece back with center binding and side white-binding. Neck-block will have hd28 stamp. Problem era for them was 70'' s.
You need a couple more hands with a clothes iron to heat your StewMac puller while you heat the bridge pad. Or even a propane burner to warm it a good bit. Heating two things and only two hands-- there has to be a better way. Hummmm!
Everyone that knows anything about Martin guitars knows that Maple bridge plates are much better than Rosewood bridge plates so unfortunately you are talking nonsense there. Maple bridge plates are the reason Martins pre 67/68 are more desirable than later ones as they all had a small Maple bridge plate and then in the late 60's it changed to Rosewood and then in 1969 Martin changed it to a much bigger Rosewood bridge plate nicknamed the tone muffler as it was so big it killed the tops and that's one of the reasons why late 60's and 70's Martins are not desirable as they were overbuilt with a Rosewood bridge plate and quality control was crap. The HD28 came out in 1976 and Martin went back to the small Maple bridge plate on this model to try and recreate the Golden Era tone as they knew that the Rosewood bridge plate wasn't a good idea tonewise. Small Maple Bridge plates are the quintessential Martin ingredient in all their great guitars from the Golden Era so I would trust Martin when they use small Maple bridge plates rather than Rosewood bridge plates as they invented the Dreadnought.
Awesome video Jerry and Rosa crew! That one looks like a doozy but I know you can fix it just nice!!! Question: in regards to the crack in the bridge that spans across the bridge pinholes, is it possible to fix that crack and reuse the bridge? Or does the bridge normally just have to be replaced? Thanks again hope to hear from you 😀
Rare earth magnets will hold your work in place within 1/2 to 3/4 of inch. Tape the magnet onto the wood lightly be careful do not let magnets touch (you will have a helluva time getting them off)
With only one heater, it's tough heating both the bridge plate and the tool for prying under it. Can the prying tool be heated on the hot plate to keep it hot enough?
I see you using your hot iron to remove the bridges of the guitars and mandolins. I understand it's quite a proceedure. I have a thought. Would a Hot Air Soldering station as top temperature is around 500 degrees and is also has variable temps as well as adjustable air flow. This might be just the answer to heating to remove bridges or anything else that can be removed by using heat and air. just a thought, maybe worth looking into.
Hi Jerry; love these 3 parters. I wondered watching you struggle with the bridge pad inside the guitar, wouldn't using steam worked in that instance also?
Might be time to check out the bridge saver from Stew Mac. I bought a 1962 000-18 with the original bridge plate that was repaired with a bridge saver years ago, and the plate is in excellent shape. The plugs are done cross grain which actually makes it stronger than original. I do setups and light repairs myself, but I think I might get a bridge saver tool for these rather than fight with removing the plate.
The tool you need on the inside should have the edge of a craft knife and then get thicker, the one you have is far too hefty for this job. The fact that this guitar has had to be repaired before says more about the build quality than anything, there are guitars a hundred years old that have not got the problems this one has. Excellent video and the patience of a saint.
Its a stewmac tool. So great to know you are smarter than the guys at stewmac, who have been doing this stuff for a crazy long time. And you are watching a craftsman with 40 years experience. I think he may know a little bit about what hes doing!
Yikes, no thanks. All I can think is yank the back which is a ton of work to replace. I hope no knuckleheads complain about complaining. I'd wack-em with the hot iron.
Hey Jerry check out Ted Woodford's channel. He uses repurposed wire foam cutters to apply dry heat to release glued neck joins. "twoodford' is the channel name
My wife's first Martin is an 82 HD28 (last year w/o adjustable truss rod). I'm now scared to go check closely for intonation and capo issues. Ignorance is bliss?
Water has a good heat transfer coefficient wet wood will heat better than dry wood 🤓 then it depends on what sort of glue it is, f it's a polyurethane based glue like “Gorilla” glue, then nothing will soften it🤓
No, because then it would not lend strength to the top, to keep it from bowing up. With the grain in the same direction, the plate would bow with the top, in the side to side direction.
@@zapa1pnt But the bridge already takes cate of the side to side. Surely the bridgeplate is supposed to prevent the bellying behind / dipping in front of the bridge?
@@jackbombeeck4958: There is a series of events involved, in the bowing of the top and the forward leaning of the bridge. The first is the bowing of the top, perpendicular to the grain, because that is the weak direction. Just like corrugated paper, when you lift it in the middle, it will bend/sag perpendicular to the corrugations/grain. After it has begun bowing upward (side to side), the string tension will now start to pull the back end of the bridge forward (because that is where they are connected) and the front of the bridge will dive down, due to the leverage applied. So the grain of the bridge and the bridge plate needs to be perpendicular, to the top, to avoid the initial bowing. It also helps greatly, if the new plate is larger in Both directions, so to avoid bowing And forward leverage.
The Faithful know that "I am nervous" is clickbait bs! We know the healing hands of The Master (craftsman...) will make 'short work' of this project. We've seen you make a silk purse out of a sow's ear too many times... We've seen the junk mandolins and guitars scarf jointed to a better than 'factory' condition. No lie! 😉
Out of curiosity, why don't you have a straight tool to pry with rather than the bent one? Like a basic short chisel and a mallet? Just an outsider knowing nothing about guitar repair/ building seeking knowledge.
Jerry, I am sorry to have inflicted all the pain on your arms and hands. Now I feel bad.....but at the same time, I feel great having my old Martin back. Can't thank you enough !! Oh, the title of the video says HD18..... it's an HD28. I knew it was just a typo. See you on Tuesday at the jam.
Okay I'll admit it. My names Gil & I have a sickness. I can watch these repair videos 24/7. Whether it's watching steam coming out the drill holes for a neck removal, or watching some one sand sealer off a guitar or bass body, I'm glued to the screen. Yes it's most def a sickness, but I've decided...why fight it, just "go with it".
Amen!
@@kennethholliday6806 Do you know of any support groups?(preferably one with hot babes who like toothless old guitar players.)
Is there a name for this syndrome? I’m suffering from it too. Not only guitars but tube amplifiers too (Uncle Doug, highly addictive!).
I would rather watch Jerry’s repair and construction videos than anything on TV.
@@hijmestoffels5171 I don't know the name of our affliction.All I know is I have it. I've decided NOT to resist it, in any way, shape, or form. Rather, I've decided I will live with it, & accept the consequences.
Learned something valuable here. Water helped transfer the heat through the wood down to the glue.
been there and done that and yep man you can get into a job doing this! thumbs up for seeing it thru!
Thank you my friend
I admire your resolve, and confidence. To work on these high end instruments you better know exactly what your doing. You do, and the results speak for themselves. Good job.
Always happy to see your persistence pay off. Glad to see what my father would refer to as a man who takes pride in his work. I wish you a your family good health
A bitnof science for you from a chemist. If you are heating wet material, you limit the temperature to the boiling temperature and limiting the exposure to very high heat. It also absorbs a lot of energy so your heater will show lower temperature...
Dear Sir, I'm always fascinated by your patience : whatever your skills and long experience, you prove that matter always rules! As a physicist, it's not a surprise for me, but your videos show that modesty is always the mark of good artisans... Unglueing a neck or bridge on an acoustic guitar, is always a devilish job if you don't want to ruin or break anything
Don’t worry Jerry , after all you are the master of your craft😊.
It’s amazing the amount of strength needed to deconstruct an instrument🇬🇧
I’m glad there are people like you on RUclips sharing your years ok knowledge. Not just telling you how to do things but showing the work and how to overcome obstacles in the process.
I would have used a Sawzall and perhaps a framing hammer to remove the bridge pad......there's a reason no one leaves their guitar with me.
lol 👍
A sledgehammer and an acetylene torch might help also
I was thinking that bandsaw might help?
I was thinking an m80....
Jerry, have you ever thought of a 'Pressure Cooker' vessel to produce your steam? There's a rocker on top and I believe you could manufacture a 90 degree outlet to the top outlet and run the plastic hose off the 90 degree add-on and still have a rocker for safety on top. They're usually built real sturdy and can pick them up, with a little luck, at a second-hand store.
I'm really getting plenty of steam that's not an issue
This is definitely a job for Jerry Rosa's expertise. You can do it!
I love seeing you take on these projects - and, as much as you sigh that "this is going to be tough one", I think you secretly relish the challenge to some extent. The results are always stunning - and if I could afford a custom-built acoustic, you'd be the guy I'd turn to.
Jerry, knowing about your hand problems, I was having sympathetic pain watching you struggle inside that sound hole.
Look at a product called Ov Gloves to keep yourself from getting burnt. They are small enough you might be able to get a hand thru the sound hole. If they don’t work out you can give them to your wife to use in the kitchen. Love your videos. Hi from Vancouver Island.
Excellent video! Very enjoyable!
Its a win, well done Jerry. Have a great weekend.
Wow, nerve wracking, and fascinating, thanks
I love your videos. I wish someone would invent a tiny router on the end of a flexible shaft, to rout off an obstinate bridge plate.
When the temperature of the bridge heater dropped, nothing was wrong. The energy was going into boiling the water away rather than increasing the temperature. It could not increase beyond the boiling point of water until the water was gone.This is the Latent Heat of Vaporization.
I would have burned down the shop long before a repair was possible. You are amazing.
Excellent as always, thanks!
You'll win the fight, i'm certain of it!
Love your videos, love the way you work! There's a practicality and artistry to your skill that's admirable.
Thanks for video
The "Pucker factor" comment makes this an extra step up to the usual great videos of yours.
Maybe a dumb question, but why don’t you use some masking tape or 😊pastiche film to protect the adjacent finish, when you are sticking those knives in? I know the are flat and very thin, but it seems like it would be easy to accidentally scratch or even gouge the finish when you have to use some much force to get them in.
Jerry, you really need to look after yourself! That "Bridge Heater" is VERY HOT. You can always buy a new guitar, mandolin or even a banjo if you must! However, if you drop that heater on your right hand you won't be able to PLAY any of them!!!
32:50 Jerry - "Oh, Thank you, this bridge is coming off real EASY"
Everybody else - "D'Oh! Surely you know better by now that you can't call ANY job "EASY"!! You are asking for trouble with that kind of comment!"
Even you forget "ROSA'S LUCK" some days!!
Steaming it was a stroke of genius!
Have you ever put Johnson's place wax on the caul to keep it from sticking
Well, it may have not been the best wood, for a bridge plate, but at least it was well glued. 😁
I’m just wondering if you put a steel flange on your heater, to grab the backside then pull while heater is in place, will that work? Just thinking out loud.
Doing hard things is what craftsmen do- thanks for the awesome insight into these processes. There are some thin heat resistant gloves out there in the bbq world that might help you with burn concerns- cheers!
My 1983 HD-28 needs everything you just did. I just sighted down the body at the nut and sure enough it was way above. Perhaps 3/8 inch just like this one.
But I think I'll just sell it to someone who likes cowboy chords. And buy a new HD-28 that has a truss rod. I love the sound of the HD-28. I especially like that low end because I play a lot of muted thumping of those bottom end strings. I also tune the whole thing down a full step.
I'd wear a heavy engineer glove to use that 400 degrees chunk metal heater inside the sound hole to each it's own
My hands are too large to wear gloves and still fit through a sound hole
I feel like I am working on this with you. And I am going "What if you...", But then I remembered I have no idea what you were trying to do most of the time, haha. Glad I never worked on any acoustics.
I have a wallpaper steamer. It’s a big plastic container with a heater in it a pressure cap like a rad cap on a car radiator. It takes about 15 mins to start steaming and it’s good to go for about 20 minutes. Relatively cheap had it for a long time. Lots of water contained in box and safety with pressure cap.
Would it be possible to drill two holes in that heater bar, tap them and then insert two screws through two holes in the bridge. The screws would hold the heater bar in place flush up against the inside and you wouldn't have to hold it. Just an idea.
At around 22:30 you sort of quit for the day after being unable to remove the last quarter of the bridge plate.
Then, the video picks up again with you measuring and cutting the new padouk bridge plate. What happened with that STUBBORN last piece of the old bridge plate? You didn't show yourself finally getting it removed! That was what I was hangin' around for -- to see you exultantly conquering that last piece of bridge plate! ??? Or did I somehow miss that part?
Have you considered putting some fiberglass insulation tape around the unused faces on the spicy end of your heater? Same idea as wrapping motorcycle pipes with tape, the tape gets almost as hot as the pipes but since the FG doesn't transfer heat as fast you have time to move away before you get a nasty 2nd degree contact burn. Should be able to hold it on with something as simple as wire. The sensor going wild is an indicator of a bad connection somewhere on the thermocouple, or it touching the grounded shield. I have a similar PID controller I use to keep a curing box at a fixed temp with a heater/circulator and it started doing the same thing, found the TC junction was broken and making intermittent contact. Easiest fix is a new TC sensor since they're usually cheap, but I was able to get mine functional again just by twisting the TC wires together.
???? QUESTION: When I see the effort and heat that goes into removing these bridges, I wonder if using a router jig like you did for the area under the bridge could be used to route/mill away all but a few thousandths of an inch of the bridge? It would seem that only a little heat and water would be needed to get that last bit out. The heat would go right to the glue joint, rather than heating the whole bridge and surrounding area. Or maybe even mill right to the surface, similar to what you did here for the veneer fill piece?
Would it be of any help, in removing bridge and bridge plate, to make steel pegs and heat them at the same time? It's all going to be changed anyway.
Doesn't matter how long the battle is, as long as you win the war bud. 👍👍👍🥃Respect to you mate.
I think is a bit of a testament to the builders of old Martins ( and many other of course) that it is so hard to take apart, even your own repairs seem so good as I'm sure yer afeared going back into one, except of course you know all the materials etc. etc., and I think the craftsmen that put them together didn't expect some parts to come off/depart/un-glue. I have a very silly question that occurred to me watching you heat the glue from inside then outside, which didn't really work until you started adding some moisture, is if you have ever consider an opposite approach, I mean using NO2 and freezing in a very controlled manner, keeping the top dry so as to be not affected and maybe wet the part to be removed? I know its goofy but I am a curious sort eh and if I had the stuff to experiment I likely would but for now just keep my knives and chisels sharp and my fingers intact :) Cheers to you Jerry on that project and love and respect from PNW Canada, all the best to you and yours man!
Using cryogenics, in that manner, you would just rip the wood apart.
It would be worse, than using nothing at all.
@@zapa1pnt Yeah I had a feeling that would probably be the issue, even with oiling (?) the inside of the top around what you don't want to shatter, oh well matey, just thinkin' outside the box then. Love your work and dedication and I surely feel your frustration sometimes when dealing with the really borked gits, thank you for sharing your knowledge and adventures, good health to you and yours' and look forward to more learning :) Cheers from BC Can.
I like those models with the H trim !
Steaming the old hyde glue worked wonders..I love real hyde glue for all my repair work ...from a retired trained award winning master luthier...I do yell out occasionally at your approach to repairs...repairmen are a differnt artist than a builder..combining both is a wonderful challenge for the talented folks who live to do....and not sleep thru life...thank you sir.
Jerry: that's a hd-28. The d18 has mahogany back and sides with black binding. The hd28 has rosewood back and sides, two piece back with center binding and side white-binding. Neck-block will have hd28 stamp. Problem era for them was 70'' s.
Garcdonald, do you know if early '70s D-18s had their own problems? I have a D-18 and was wondering if I need to be aware of anomalies. Thank you!
Well done, what a nightmare of a job.
You missed the text, inserted at 0:22.
You are a gutton for punishment. Lol. My hat's off to ya!
I’ve never had to remove a bridge plate yet. If i did, I’ve always imagined I would rather just take the back off the guitar and access that way.
You need a couple more hands with a clothes iron to heat your StewMac puller while you heat the bridge pad. Or even a propane burner to warm it a good bit. Heating two things and only two hands-- there has to be a better way. Hummmm!
STEAM...that what granny used to steam open letters with!
Everyone that knows anything about Martin guitars knows that Maple bridge plates are much better than Rosewood bridge plates so unfortunately you are talking nonsense there. Maple bridge plates are the reason Martins pre 67/68 are more desirable than later ones as they all had a small Maple bridge plate and then in the late 60's it changed to Rosewood and then in 1969 Martin changed it to a much bigger Rosewood bridge plate nicknamed the tone muffler as it was so big it killed the tops and that's one of the reasons why late 60's and 70's Martins are not desirable as they were overbuilt with a Rosewood bridge plate and quality control was crap. The HD28 came out in 1976 and Martin went back to the small Maple bridge plate on this model to try and recreate the Golden Era tone as they knew that the Rosewood bridge plate wasn't a good idea tonewise. Small Maple Bridge plates are the quintessential Martin ingredient in all their great guitars from the Golden Era so I would trust Martin when they use small Maple bridge plates rather than Rosewood bridge plates as they invented the Dreadnought.
Awesome video Jerry and Rosa crew! That one looks like a doozy but I know you can fix it just nice!!!
Question: in regards to the crack in the bridge that spans across the bridge pinholes, is it possible to fix that crack and reuse the bridge? Or does the bridge normally just have to be replaced? Thanks again hope to hear from you 😀
Always replace
@@RosaStringWorks thank you very much for your quick response take care!
Thanks!
Love it...keep up the good work
Rare earth magnets will hold your work in place within 1/2 to 3/4 of inch. Tape the magnet onto the wood lightly be careful do not let magnets touch (you will have a helluva time getting them off)
With only one heater, it's tough heating both the bridge plate and the tool for prying under it. Can the prying tool be heated on the hot plate to keep it hot enough?
What kind of knife are you using to slide under the fretboard
Jerry, because your steam hose is not insulated, in any manner, you are
loosing steam, over it's length and gaining water.
in taking that bridge plate out, could you rig up something that would heat both the underside and top simultaneously? Or would that be too much heat?
The iron cooling down is due to the water boiling off and taking the heat with it faster than the iron can make it. Just thermodynamics at work.
I see you using your hot iron to remove the bridges of the guitars and mandolins.
I understand it's quite a proceedure. I have a thought. Would a Hot Air Soldering station as top temperature is around 500 degrees and is also has variable temps as well as adjustable air flow. This might be just the answer to heating to remove bridges or anything else that can be removed by using heat and air. just a thought, maybe worth looking into.
Hi Jerry; love these 3 parters. I wondered watching you struggle with the bridge pad inside the guitar, wouldn't using steam worked in that instance also?
that's what god created welding gloves for
On the bridge pad/plate, why not turn the guitar over and let gravity help by putting the heater on it from the inside?
Too hard to control that way
Just a thought!
Put your phone in there and take video to see if it's working. They sell small cams that plug int the phone so you can see from the outside
I think I might suggest a longer curved handle for the bridge iron.
You should get some oven gloves they are pretty thin
It seems like you would have several fiber optic cameras in your shop. Wouldn't that work better than the mirror?
The H stands for the Herringbone around the edges. Its a D 28 with herringbone perfling or what ever its called.
The hd28 also has scalloped bracing
Holy Boston Steamer!
Would a folded up heating pad like for your aching muscles work ? Or hair dryer
Just thinking….Why not pull the Bridge first, then heat from the top . Hot enough to really soften the glue?
Might be time to check out the bridge saver from Stew Mac. I bought a 1962 000-18 with the original bridge plate that was repaired with a bridge saver years ago, and the plate is in excellent shape. The plugs are done cross grain which actually makes it stronger than original. I do setups and light repairs myself, but I think I might get a bridge saver tool for these rather than fight with removing the plate.
More heat !!!
The tool you need on the inside should have the edge of a craft knife and then get thicker, the one you have is far too hefty for this job.
The fact that this guitar has had to be repaired before says more about the build quality than anything, there are guitars a hundred years old that have not got the problems this one has. Excellent video and the patience of a saint.
Its a stewmac tool. So great to know you are smarter than the guys at stewmac, who have been doing this stuff for a crazy long time. And you are watching a craftsman with 40 years experience. I think he may know a little bit about what hes doing!
I could not seen, that bridge plate comes out or not?
Some of the footage was missing I don't know if I forgot to film it or we lost it
Yikes, no thanks. All I can think is yank the back which is a ton of work to replace. I hope no knuckleheads complain about complaining. I'd wack-em with the hot iron.
Is it just an illusion that the neck looks bowed not misaligned?
I think a longer taper on the tool would help
Stupid question - why not plane the old cracked bridge off?
You don't use a plane, to go down to the underlying wood, when you have a surrounding finish.
Would a heavy string gauge be responsible for these issues?
Hey Jerry check out Ted Woodford's channel. He uses repurposed wire foam cutters to apply dry heat to release glued neck joins. "twoodford' is the channel name
I saw some auto body tool that would get that bridge plate out
Links???
@@zapa1pnt it’s at harbor freight
My wife's first Martin is an 82 HD28 (last year w/o adjustable truss rod). I'm now scared to go check closely for intonation and capo issues. Ignorance is bliss?
Just a thought if put a cover on the bridge to trap the heat for longer :)
If water helped with the bridge plate would steam have helped more?
Unlike a neck removal, there is no way to get the steam into the joint.
how about using acetone or lacquer thinner to degrade the glue on that inner plate?
Water has a good heat transfer coefficient wet wood will heat better than dry wood 🤓 then it depends on what sort of glue it is, f it's a polyurethane based glue like “Gorilla” glue, then nothing will soften it🤓
9:31 Some bridges are worth burning. 🙂
Shouldn't the grain direction of the bridgepad run in the same direction as the top?
No, because then it would not lend strength to the top, to keep it from bowing up.
With the grain in the same direction, the plate would bow with the top, in the side to side direction.
@@zapa1pnt But the bridge already takes cate of the side to side. Surely the bridgeplate is supposed to prevent the bellying behind / dipping in front of the bridge?
@@jackbombeeck4958: There is a series of events involved, in the bowing of the top and the forward leaning of the bridge.
The first is the bowing of the top, perpendicular to the grain, because that is the weak direction.
Just like corrugated paper, when you lift it in the middle, it will bend/sag perpendicular to the corrugations/grain.
After it has begun bowing upward (side to side), the string tension will now start to pull the back end of the bridge forward (because that is where they are connected) and the front of the bridge will dive down, due to the leverage applied.
So the grain of the bridge and the bridge plate needs to be perpendicular, to the top, to avoid the initial bowing.
It also helps greatly, if the new plate is larger in Both directions, so to avoid bowing And forward leverage.
No it should be exactly opposite
You could maybe turn the guitar upside down somehow an let gravity hold the heater in place.
Your title reads HD 18 , looks like an HD 28 to me .
Text on screen at 0:22.
Is part 2 available yet?
Why not try the electric heat probes?
The Faithful know that "I am nervous" is clickbait bs! We know the healing hands of The Master (craftsman...) will make 'short work' of this project. We've seen you make a silk purse out of a sow's ear too many times... We've seen the junk mandolins and guitars scarf jointed to a better than 'factory' condition. No lie! 😉
Dumb question: could that plate have been sanded down with a dremel?
Out of curiosity, why don't you have a straight tool to pry with rather than the bent one? Like a basic short chisel and a mallet? Just an outsider knowing nothing about guitar repair/ building seeking knowledge.
Wouldn't it be nice if you have a zipper on the guitar to fold it open.... ^^
Persistance is all!
Keep up love your videos.