Crawls Backward (When Alarmed): Completed 1931 Martin 0-18T: Restoration and Repair, Pt. 11

Here are some pictures of the finished 0-18T.

Probably not the best shots I've ever taken, but given that it's about 16° F outside, I don't want to take this guitar out to the garden.

Here it is perched on the workbench.

It's got one of the darkest finishes I've seen on an old Martin. Usually they're yellowish or a little amber, but this one is really dark.

I'm pretty sure it was sitting without a case in someone's basement for decades.

I wasn't sure about the look of the pickguard at first, but I like it now.

And I still have the original, although I don't know what I can do with it.

Another angle.

You may recall from Part One of the project how filthy the guitar was. It cleaned up very nicely and the finish polished out well.

The back. Lots of scratches, but it still looks good I think.

And a through-the-finish wear spot.

I'm pretty much at the point that unless the finish is just awful, I'll just polish it out instead of trying to touch up old spots. Too hard to match for one thing, and I think you lose a bit of the original mojo the instrument has.

That mahogany sure is pretty, innit?

Here's the side where I repaired those three cracks - they're backed by a cleat now.

The other side is nearly perfect.

Green grunge from the tuners is all gone.

They look a whole lot better now, and they work well.

Bridge cleaned up and a new bone saddle installed.

The guitar plays very nicely and sounds wonderful. It's a lot more open sounding than my other 0-18T, and the neck is a bit chunkier for some reason.

All posts in the 1931 Martin 0-18T Restoration Project: