I took this restoration job knowing that it was a large time sink and many other areas of my business and personal life may suffer during the course. I also believed that a positive outcome would be beneficial to the business and create at least one life-long fan and customer.
Well… I did spend considerable time on the project and on a brighter note, did not loose my spouse in the process. In the end, a great new/old instrument arose from the ashes and found it’s voice clear and full of tone.
Throughout the restoration I have posted photos of various steps with a bit of commentary. You can find these photos by clicking the ’1948 D-28′ tag (it is in the column on the right, down the page a little). Once you have the results, click the heading to read the full post and view the photos.
Below I have posted a gallery of photos from the beginning to now. Some photos have captions, some not. Post a comment if you like, I will try my best to answer. Here you go.
By the way, if you get any photos or video of the happy owner playing this beauty, please send them my way. I would love to add them to my blog.
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More Happy Fats guitar top signatures.
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What happened to the fretboard?
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Incorrect replacement bridge.
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This says it all.
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Bridge removed.
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Mold, mildew, etc..
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More mold.
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… and more…
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Unique soundpost addition…
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Where’s the wedge…
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… and bindings???
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Even the back strip is a loss.
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Back bracing replaced.
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New backstrip installed.
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Scraping the back.
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Clamping the graft in place.
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1949 Martin D-28 graft. Mahogany added to the tail block.
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New Brazilian scrap used as graft.
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Gluing the graft in place.
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Heating the replacement rosewood bridge plate.
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Removing the replacement rosewood bridge plate.
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Removing the replacement rosewood bridge plate.
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Removing the loose X-brace.
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Bracing cleaned from the top.
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Center seam split.
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Dsc00Center seam split fixed.
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Dsc00Center seam split fixed.
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Dsc00Center seam split fixed.
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New bridge plate being fitted.
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New bridge plate being glued.
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New bridge plate being fitted.
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Bracing being re-glued.
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Top being glued.
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Back being glued.
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Top and back glued up.
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Top and back glued up.
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Tail graft.
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Cutting a new butt wedge.
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Cutting a new butt wedge.
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Fitting the butt wedge.
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Fitting the butt wedge.
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Fitting the butt wedge.
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Sawing the wedge slot.
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Butt wedge slot cleared.
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Fitting the butt wedge.
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Butt wedge installed.
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Cutting the purfling.
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Cutting the binding.
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Laminating purfling.
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Routing the purfling and binding channels.
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1949 Martin D-28 purfling ledge routed.
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Taping the binding in place.
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Taping the binding in place.
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Preparing to add purfling.
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Back purfling and binding installed.
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Clearing the corners.
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Preparing to install purfling.
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Taping the binding in place.
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Preparing to glue bindings.
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Brewing the binding filler.
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Filling the gaps.
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Corroded t-bar truss rod.
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Cleaning the truss rod groove.
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Grinding off the corrosion on the t-bar truss rod.
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Scraping the bindings.
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Truss rod cleaned and painted.
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Fitting the truss rod.
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Gluing in the truss rod.
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Tapering the fretboard.
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Marking the dot locations.
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Dot locations marked and ready.
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Dyeing the fretboard.
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Fretboard cleaned up.
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Ready for fretwire.
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Attaching the fretboard.
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Preparing the heel cap.
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Heel cap in place.
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Preparing for nitro.
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Finishing
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Wet sanding the top.
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Shooting the back.
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Filling the pores.
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Centering the neck.
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Attaching the neck.
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Leveling the frets.
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Locating the bridge.
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Bridge location found and finish removed.
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Gluing on the bridge.
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Filing the frets.
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1949 Martin D-28 Restored neck/headstock
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1949 Martin D-28 Restored new tag
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1949 Martin D-28 Restored back
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1949 Martin D-28 Restored tail
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1949 Martin D-28 Restored side
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1949 Martin D-28 Restored top
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1949 Martin D-28 Restored back
More Happy Fats guitar top signatures.
Hello there,
A friend of mine pointed me to your restoration of Happy Fats’ guitar. Wow. His name was LeRoy ‘Happy Fats’ LeBlanc.
Happy Fats was one of the original Cajun recording artists, from the 1930s through the 1970s. He performed in several groups and had a TV show throughout the 1960s. There is even a Happy Fats LeBlanc day, Nov 9.
Do you have any more pictures of the top with all the signatures? Do you know anything about that guitar? Any information you could pass on would be greatly appreciated, I assure you.
Thanks for your time.
David Doucet
David,
Thank you for some of the history of Happy Fats. I will ask the current owner if there are more photos of the top and add them to the gallery in this post.
In the meantime, if you come across any photos of LeRoy with this guitar, I would greatly appreciate a copy. Also, if you know of anyone that may have photos, please share this post address with them and let them know I would be interested in posting their photos as well.
http://www.infinityluthiers.com/blog/archives/405
I added another photo of the top with more signatures. Check below the finished photos.
thank you,
chris