My beloved Martin D-18 wants work—the bridge is lifting, and there’s a small crack within the high. The difficulty is, I simply moved to a brand new city and don’t know anyone. I’m nervous to take it to an unknown restore store, and I don’t know learn how to go about selecting the best particular person. How can I make certain that a store shall be as much as the duty? —Emily M.

It is a nice query—I’ve needed to appropriate quite a lot of questionable repairs over time, lots of which may have been prevented if the participant took a little bit of time to verify they have been making a great match between the job and the supplier. It may be difficult at occasions to navigate this—continuously, some diplomacy is important—however it’s nonetheless a lot simpler than managing the politics that inevitably comply with after unsatisfactory repairs.

I’ll start by stating the (hopefully) apparent: not each store is fitted to each job, and that’s completely advantageous and cheap. Many retail guitar shops provide some extent of setup, adjustment, or restore, however that doesn’t essentially imply the store is provided to take care of intensive structural work, end touchups, neck resets, or different large jobs. If 90 % of the guitars within the retailer are neon-green electrics, they will not be the only option on your Martin.

Equally, although maybe much less clearly: I do know a variety of glorious guitar builders with little or no background in restore. Although the talent units overlap an excellent deal, they aren’t completely the identical, and it’s completely doable to be a wonderful builder of recent guitars with no need a number of the fundamental abilities utilized in on a regular basis acoustic restore. For instance, a lot of restore work includes disassembling outdated glue joints, which many guitar builders by no means have to do. If contemplating a guitar builder as a restore supplier, I’d take into consideration whether or not the precise job overlaps intently with the method of creating a brand new instrument. Gluing a bridge could be a great instance—I’d belief most builders to do a great job of this since they do it on each new instrument they make. Repairing and touching up a crack is a unique story—in a well-controlled store setting, the builder of recent guitars hopes by no means to face this difficulty.

So, how can we go about selecting the best restore store? The primary and greatest means is thru phrase of mouth: go to open mics, farmer’s markets, open jam classes—anyplace you’ll find different acoustic guitarists—and ask them who takes care of their guitars. I don’t promote in my native space in any respect; most of my enterprise comes via consumer referrals, which typically assist new shoppers really feel assured earlier than they even stroll via the door. When you had a trusted luthier in your outdated hometown, ask them in the event that they know anybody—it’s a small and fairly close-knit group, and I continuously provide trusted referrals to long-distance shoppers who want an area choice.

After getting a few doable names, a cellphone name is a good subsequent step. I’m all the time glad when shoppers ask questions—it offers me an opportunity to explain the type of work I feel is important and supply some element about how I strategy the job at hand. Some shoppers come into these conversations geared up with useful data, however, as is so usually true lately, others have learn issues on-line that will not be completely correct or that they could have misinterpreted. My recommendation could be to let the repairperson lead with their analysis and opinion, after which make your individual judgment based mostly on these. Most repairpeople, myself included, will wish to truly see the instrument earlier than making a last analysis, however I feel it’s each courteous and sensible to cowl a number of the fundamental factors prematurely—face-to-face time on the bench is a precious commodity.

One level I prefer to deliver up in these preliminary inquiries is guarantee protection. Many manufacturers provide this for authentic homeowners, usually together with restore for a lot of widespread points (like your lifting bridge). I all the time encourage my shoppers to reap the benefits of guarantee protection if they’ll. I’m not a guaranty store for any producer, however I keep conscious of the native guarantee service suppliers for many main manufacturers and really feel it’s my obligation to verify the consumer is aware of if they’ve the choice. In lots of instances, they select to pay out of pocket to have me do the work anyway reasonably than driving or transport the guitar some longer distance—however guarantee protection is a part of the value paid for a top quality guitar, and the participant deserves to learn from its worth if they’ll.

Pricing is all the time on the coronary heart of the preliminary dialog. Many retailers have flat charges for sure jobs, whereas others invoice hourly. Personally, I want to steer clear of flat charges since I’ve encountered too many sudden surprises and noncompliant guitars that took far more time than they need to. If somebody quotes a value upfront earlier than beginning the job, bear in mind that except it’s a quite simple job, it’s possible you’ll come again to discover a larger value, an sad luthier, or each. Even the simplest-seeming jobs can typically disguise deeper gremlins.

For instance, let’s take into account your D-18. The bridge is lifting, which is a quite common difficulty with flattop guitars, even very well-made ones. Practically anybody that repairs guitars has encountered lifting bridges, however the methods they’re dealt with can differ extensively. I’ve encountered every little thing from folks placing sizzling water underneath the bridge to loosen and absolutely take away it, to folks making skinny wedges of wooden to connect into the empty area, to some people who simply squeeze in some epoxy and clamp it again down with fingers crossed. All of those methods are greatest prevented and, most significantly, all of them overlook the potential for a bigger difficulty. Many bridges merely come unglued and want regluing, however others tear up on the fibers of the highest and require a really cautious elimination to keep away from additional critical high injury.

Anytime I consider a guitar with a lifted bridge, I examine the bridge plate (contained in the guitar, beneath the bridge space). It’s not unusual for a lifting bridge to be a symptom of a cracked or buckled bridge plate or perhaps a cracked high, and in these instances, merely regluing the bridge won’t be ample. I’ve eliminated quite a lot of bridges that checked out first like easy jobs, solely to seek out veritable conflict zones of prior repairs beneath. (I as soon as discovered a puddle of drywall spackle filling a gap that went clear via the highest. Fortunately, no flat-rate value had been provided on that job!) If somebody gives to reglue your bridge with out first wanting contained in the guitar, I’d counsel searching for one other supplier.

It’s not straightforward for guitar retailers to maintain the lights on and the payments paid. Because of this, lots of them will absorb nearly any job that comes via the door. Confidence and the adventurous spirit are admirable traits, however they don’t all the time serve the most effective pursuits of the client or the guitar. It’s utterly honest, and doubtless advisable, to ask how usually the store or luthier has handled points like yours up to now. Merely asking them to stroll you thru how the restore is finished can go a good distance towards displaying their very own familiarity and luxury degree with it. It additionally is a good likelihood to gauge their type of communication and bedside method. If they’re impatient, disagreeable, or dismissive of your questions, then take into account how they may behave when confronted with any potential points.

Expertise has taught me that good luthiers are normally fairly busy—good work at honest pricing encourages a number of word-of-mouth and repeat enterprise. Because of this, some quantity of backlog is usually a good signal. If somebody gives to have your guitar completed in 48 hours, it might be price questioning why their schedule is evident sufficient to permit such a fast turnaround. I often accommodate pressing shoppers who’ve gigs or classes and want one thing completed ASAP, however these instances are the exceptions.

In the end, all of those questions boil all the way down to belief, and it may be a leap of religion leaving your loved one instrument with an unknown repairperson. In my expertise, a great repairperson and a great consumer will admire one another equally and present one another respect and consideration. I all the time remember the fact that the devices I work on are essential to their homeowners, and shoppers typically reply to that with gratitude, persistence, and understanding. Take the time to seek out the fitting match for you and your D-18—you’ll be glad you probably did.

This text initially appeared within the Could/June 2025 difficulty of Acoustic Guitar journal.