Ray Hatton & Marty Lanham with Uncle Pete’s Martin Guitar at the Nashville Guitar Co.Ray Hatton, left, poses with his Uncle Pete’s 80-year-old Martin guitar that he has had restored.   With him at the Bill Monroe Memorial Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, Ind., this past June are his cousins, Steve Mobley, center, [...]

Here is the body after neck removal. The bridge area has been flattened with heat, moisture and clamping with blocks during 3 treatments. I have started the touch - up work around the bridge area. This guitar has a varnish finish and will need a shellac and French polish treatment over the bare wood before [...]

The neck is being steamed out of the guitar using an old espresso coffee maker from Ricky Skaggs bus. The steam melts the old hyde glue in the joint.Steam is blown into the small cavity in the dovetail joint. The fingerboard extension has been loosened and 2 holes drilled through the 13th fret slot. The [...]

Uncle Pete Hatton with his 1929 0-18 Martin Guitar. Ruler layed across the top to show damage to guitar.
“The damage to this 1929 Martin 0-18 guitar was caused by the increased tension of metal strings. These guitars are very lightly braced and made to resist the pull of gut strings or very light gauge metal [...]