LNGD Like a NGD! Tweedy 00db

[cliff_the_stiff]

Hi AGF- Here is a testimonial for maintenance and repair.
I received this Martin Jeff Tweedy 00db through a trade here in the forum.
The guitar arrived needing a lot of love. There were bindings separating at all 4 corners at the waist, five cracks, underset neck angle and excessive fret wear.
Basically I needed to weigh the value of repair vs cutting my losses.
What I had was an all mahogany martin with a gloss finish- which is unusual, a deep body- also unusual- and the strings spacing identical to my Martin Grand J-35e, long scale with 1 3/4 nut with 2 5/16 at the saddle- really unusual from Martin. The Martin modified V neck, which is also fantastic.
I brought it in to my local luthier of choice hoping that I wasn’t about to basically sign up for a complete rebuild given all the potential.
My luthier had it for several months. That was a brutal wait on my gamble.

The guitar came back having had all five cracks repaired and stabilized, the binding repaired and re-glued and cleaned up, with fantastic results.
The bridge was shaved instead of a neck reset, and a PLEK perfected the frets.

This all mahogany guitar is fantastic. The db helps generate balanced bass while the hog balances the trebles.
Since getting her back, the Tweedy has shown that a lot of guitar tone can come from a small package.

Shout out to SF Guitarworks in San Francisco, they have been phenomenal for years, and I have recently had them complete this detailed work as well as some fantastic fret work on my Jumbo.
The result is the best playing, and feeling guitar I own. It’s far from the best overall, but all it brings is enough to make it special.
If you see one of these pop up, I recommend you take the gamble.

[marty bradbury]

Sweet looking guitar! Enjoy!

[dnf777]

Congrats on a good save. I love my Tweedy, as it was my very first Martin. But I noticed its neck seems to have settled a bit. (Straight edge falls about 1mm below bridge). Still some workable bridge if I need it, but it plays fine for me for now. Wonder if thats an issue with a hog db configuration. Just seems like a young model to be hearing such talk...?

[davenumber2]

Were the issues disclosed before the trade, I hope?

[KenL]

Nice! I've always wanted to play one of those, but have never had the opportunity.

[cliff_the_stiff]

Dnf- It is a bit young for a reset, and my preference is for a very low action, so in order to get it where I wanted it, it needed something, fortunately SF guitarworks is conservative in their approach and hopefully I won’t need a reset for quite a long time.

It’s a fantastic guitar. Kind of became my go-to overnight. I even sold my 000 which I thought would never happen.

Davenumber2- Some issues were disclosed and some were discovered.
My trade partner was of strong integrity and we were able to come to a fair agreement without drama.

[bizango1]

Nice to see such a great guitar restored to goodness from a sad state. I absolutely love mine. Gryphon had a used one on consignment and I was interested after owning a SCGC 000-29 that had nice tone to sing with but ultimately I didn't keep it bec string spacing was too narrow for my fingerpicking style and the Tweedy has my favorite wider spacing. At first the one at Gryphon was intriguing but action was too low and buzzy and it had dead strings so I walked (drove 40 miles X 2) away. The intrigue grew overnight so I drove back next day and they kindly put new strings on, did an instant setup, got permission from the owner to discount a bit, and I bought it. Now it's one of my favorites-perfect for a guy who sings-and to my eyes more beautiful than the SCGC which is saying a lot. And sustainable woods, too. What's not to like? (Richlite haters squirming!)

[Colt45]

A guy I know works at Martin Guitar (we both live close to Nazareth) and of all the guitars he can buy, he has the Tweedy model.
I’ve been able to play his and I really liked everything about it.
Congrats on a great instrument.

[cliff_the_stiff]

Originally Posted by bizango1

Nice to see such a great guitar restored to goodness from a sad state. I absolutely love mine. ...And sustainable woods, too. What's not to like? (Richlite haters squirming!)

bizango1 If I were to complain about the Richlite maybe I don’t like the bridge pins? But the fretboard feels great and I am an ebony snob.

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by cliff_the_stiff

But the fretboard feels great and I am an ebony snob.

I hear you, brother. Ebony snobs rule; Richlite dudes drool!