Repairing Martin Guitar Heel Break

I started trying to remove the popsicle brace, thinking it would be easier than the bridge plate since it was (seemingly) easier to get at.  Hah.  Stoopid me.

When I took the bridge plate off the Epiphone, I used a damp sponge to dampen the plate and I thought it softened the glue.  Maybe it didn't.  Anyway, this time, I again used a sponge to dampen the popsicle brace.  Then I used my bridge pad plate to heat up the brace.  So far, so good.

The problem was that I apparently over-dampened the brace.  When I tried to pry the brace up, I instead wound up taking dampened hunks of brace off.  So I got a bit fed up and decided to move onto something else.

I think what I'll try is heating the brace and the knife both when I take another stab (ha) at the brace and the bridge pad.

In the meantime, I glued this hunk of the neck heel back onto the neck.

I'm not sure when this damage happened - I suspect it was during the guitar's transit to me.  When I took the guitar out of the box, the neck was attached to the body - not glued.  And when I lifted the whole thing off, the neck fell off.  So either it was already damaged, it got damaged in shipping, or I accidentally broke it while unpacking.  I suspect it happened in shipping.

In any event, does not matter when/how it happened.  I just need to fix it.

Fortunately, it's a very clean break, and it will go back together perfectly with little seam showing, and I'll just fill any seam that's visible.

I'm planning to use hide glue for as many repairs as I can on this guitar.  It was straightforward to heat up some of my new batch of glue, spread it on the heel, and put it back together.

Now back to the pad removal.



The Complete Martin Guitar Restoration Saga
Restoration begins
Repairing heel break (This page)
DIY chisel for bridge plate removal
DIY bridge plate removal iron, Pt.1
DIY bridge plate removal iron, Pt.2
Steam removal of bridge plate
Bridge plate removed
Tongue brace removal
Crack repair and brace scallop
New bridge plate Pt. 1
New bridge plate Pt. 2
Patching hole in top
Final fitting of top patch
Installing carbon fiber rod
Fret removal
Fingerboard crack repair, Pt. 1
Fingerboard crack repair, Pt. 2
DIY fret bender tool
Refretting Pt. 1
Refretting Pt. 2
Tuner shaft repair
Neck reset - dovetail fitting
Measuring neck set with DIY jig
Gluing the neck with hide glue
Tortoloid Pickguard
Fitting bridge pins
Brace reglue
Making bone saddle
Making a buffalo horn nut
Restoration completed