Crazy ? Vintage Martin question

Pukulele Pete · Jan 9, 2015

I have a few vintage Martin Sopranos.. I've always wondered about the construction. At the bottom of the lower bout , the sides come together
and instead of the two sides being butted together , there seems to be
a darker brown line maybe a 1/16th of an inch or smaller in width between the two sides. Can anyone tell me what that is and why it is there ? Thanks.

sequoia · Jan 9, 2015

I'm guessing it is just a glue seam? Maybe some slight shrinkage over the years has opened up the butt joint a little bit? Pictures would be nice...

Pukulele Pete · Jan 9, 2015

Littleriveruke said:
I'm guessing it is just a glue seam? Maybe some slight shrinkage over the years has opened up the butt joint a little bit? Pictures would be nice...

Nope , it's not an open joint,It is flush and finished . They are all the same , my 30's style 1 , 50's style 2, 50's style O . I imagine all old Martins are the same as mine.

RichM · Jan 9, 2015

Check out this thread on end grafts:

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?87467-Martin-Uke-End-Graft

Pukulele Pete · Jan 9, 2015

RichM said:
Check out this thread on end grafts:

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?87467-Martin-Uke-End-Graft

Thank You so much . Just what I was looking for.

Timbuck · Jan 9, 2015

On the odd occasion I find that my end butt joint is not as good as I'd like it to be ....so Before I fit the top and back plates I just run a saw blade down the centre of the join and insert a sliver of rosewood edge ways into the saw cut....That fixes it

I don't feel good about it tho'

Pukulele Pete · Jan 9, 2015

Timbuck said:
On the odd occasion I find that my end butt joint is not as good as I'd like it to be ....so Before I fit the top and back plates I just run a saw blade down the centre of the join and insert a sliver of rosewood edge ways into the saw cut....That fixes it

I don't feel good about it tho'

Geez , I think it looks better with the graft. I wonder if Martin did all their
ukes like this or just the ones that needed it ?

sequoia · Jan 10, 2015

Interesting. I mean either butt the joint up flush or put in a proper end graft. This sort of half-assed end graft doesn't really make sense to me. I'm wondering whether this is consistent with all the old Martin sopranos or whether they just did that on the less than perfect joints. As in, "Hey, Fred didn't get this one quite right, fill it in with a little fillet and we are good to go.". This doesn't really make sense to me either since the rest of the instruments were put together really tight and well, even I can do a nice tight joint there so Martin certainly could. It ain't that hard. Maybe it was just fashion of the time....? A little bling on an otherwise perfectly plain instrument.

I'll check out my neighbors 20' Martin uke and report back.

gerardg · Jan 10, 2015

Close up pic available ?

sequoia · Jan 10, 2015

Below are pictures of the neighbor's butt....joint on her Martin saprano. Looks like the joint has a tiny sliver of wood. Kinda odd...

BlackBearUkes · Jan 10, 2015

Nothing odd about it. Its an easy way to clean up the edge and to my eye, looks better. I often use a slightly wider piece of wood for this graft, but any width will do the job nicely. It takes extra time to get a wood to wood joint to look good, and when you are in business, time is money, hence the little strip of wood to clean the edge up.

Crazy ? Vintage Martin question

Pukulele Pete

Well-known member

sequoia

Well-known member

Pukulele Pete

Well-known member

RichM

Well-known member

Pukulele Pete

Well-known member

Timbuck

Well-known member

Pukulele Pete

Well-known member

sequoia

Well-known member

gerardg

Well-known member

sequoia

Well-known member

Attachments

BlackBearUkes

Well-known member

Similar threads