repair advice?

hey.
i just got my first vintage martin

wow. loud. spunky. light as a feather. spot on intonation.
but, its not without it's issues.
so i'm wondering if i should be worried about it. get it repaired.. or leave it alone?

it's a in early 20's style 1 soprano.

the issues are :
a small crack on the body. it doesn't appear to go through the finish, but i'm not sure.


what i suspect might be some super slight separation along the binding in a spot? it's so slight, i'm not sure it can be seen in a photo.


and the biggie... is a repair at the headstock. clearly at on point part of the headstock was snapped off. it travels right through 2 of the tuning pegs. the repair isn't the prettiest thing i've seen. but it appears solid? this is the thing i'm the most worried about since it travels through the tuning holes.
the question is, should i take it to a luthier to get re-repaired? or just let it go and hope nothing goes wrong? and are the wooden pegs a potential problem ? do modern friction tuners create less stress on the headstock?
i'm fine using the wooden pegs. i like the look. and they hold the tuning just fine, but i don't want to cause more damage.


i know there is only so much you can get from the photos. but any advice would be well received.

thanks!

I don't see a lot there to be alarmed about. If it was mine, I would leave it alone. The worst case is the headstock repair fails, but that actually would be a good thing, an opportunity to do it right.

Brad

Sit back, meditate about it a bit and see what happens. All of those issues could have developed years ago and be absolutely stable now. Keep an eye on them and if there seem to be any problems or signs of increasing damage have it looked at by a pro. If it just sits there and doesn't change from year to year it's just part of the instrument's pedigree.

Old stuff has issues - I should know.

A bit dofferent than yours but here you go.
Video on crack repair:

http://www.ukuleleguild.org/luthiers.php

i don't have the confidence to mess with this particular uke myself.
something about a uke that's twice my age... i respect it to much to mess up.

i've decided to just play it and love it (which is pretty easy) and if something falls off, i'll bring it in to a uke doctor.

i've never played, much less owned an old martin before.
i was very suspicious of all the devotion.
but i have to say, as soon as i played pick it up... i said "ohhh. now i get it"
it's light. it's loud. it's tone is wonderful.
and the old wood even smells good.

The headstock one looks a bit serious but otherwise I'd leave the rest alone. Get the headstock seen to sooner rather than later. It is a simple repair that should not cost you an arm or a leg!:shaka:

yeah. that's the only one i was really concerned this.
there is a great repair place about 30 mins away from me, so i head over there this weekend just to set my mind at ease.

plastic fingerboard replacement

I have a couple of old "Harmony" ukes that have sentimental value but they have plastic ,one piece, fretboards. Is it a big deal to replace with a proper board and individual frets etc.? They still play but the frets are wearing down where the strings touch them during use. My concern is getting the correct placement so I don't bugger up the intonation. I should add that the plastic boards are held on with screws[no glue] so removing them is not an issue. My first post so I hope I am in the right place for this question !!

Gerry Quinn said:

I have a couple of old "Harmony" ukes that have sentimental value but they have plastic ,one piece, fretboards. Is it a big deal to replace with a proper board and individual frets etc.? They still play but the frets are wearing down where the strings touch them during use. My concern is getting the correct placement so I don't bugger up the intonation. I should add that the plastic boards are held on with screws[no glue] so removing them is not an issue. My first post so I hope I am in the right place for this question !!

Click to expand...

Start a new thread for this. In luthier section and you can delete this post