Martin Bell Guitar Works

Martin Bell Guitar Works Guitar repair services. Guitar repairs, modifications and service.

This '54 Gibson is now back in business. Neck reset, refret, new bridge and saddle. Love the finish wear.What ...
08/14/2026

This '54 Gibson is now back in business. Neck reset, refret, new bridge and saddle.



Love the finish wear.

What I found under the bridge... 2 sets of holes, and quite the gap. Inlaid some new spruce to build it back up.

New bridge, more appropriate to the style of the old LG Gibsons.

And did this neck come off easily?...

Hmm. Maybe not.

Any guesses as to what brand of guitar this is? # Yup... Gibson.It was a fairly short, ugly break. We want to r...
06/20/2026

Any guesses as to what brand of guitar this is?

#

Yup... Gibson.

It was a fairly short, ugly break. We want to reinforce the repair.

After the initial glue up, I removed about 0.040" from the back of the headstock/neck transition.

And then added layers on carbon fiber to span the break.

Touch up work begins

We end up with a really strong repair.

And fade in an opaque cover up.

And it is all good to go.

I had the pleasure of working on this '57 Gibson J45 recently. At some point, the tuners had been swapped out for Kluson...
06/03/2026

I had the pleasure of working on this '57 Gibson J45 recently. At some point, the tuners had been swapped out for Kluson singles, and we wanted to return to the original "3 on a strip" Klusons. But, brand new tuners on a nearly 70 year old guitar can look a little out of place... so, I gave it an acid fume bath to add a little patina. We also replaced the broken ceramic saddle with a bone, drop in replacement (also slightly aged to tone down the stark white). While the original saddle was height adjustable, we don't really love the idea of empty space beneath the saddle, so this one is actually sitting directly on the top, fitted as you would a normal saddle. The adjustable screw heads are just there to retain the look. A really nice old guitar!

This early 50s lap steel came in with electrical gremlins. The volume pot worked fine... the tone pot, however, also bec...
05/24/2026

This early 50s lap steel came in with electrical gremlins. The volume pot worked fine... the tone pot, however, also became a volume pot. After carefully checking the tone circuit, I turned to the pickup itself. No reading... there was an internal short, even though the pickup was still technically working. After discussing things with the owner, we made the decision to rewind the pickup. You can see the corrosion on the inner parts of the pole pieces. Fender used to just wrap the coil around the poles, so that when they corroded, it destroyed the inner coil as well. Now we insulate them to prevent this. After rewinding, I was able to reuse the existing leads, and the twine wrap, before wax potting and reinstalling the pickup. This one is all good to go!

Well... this was a little challenging. I don't generally work on violins, but I had the opportunity to refret this cool ...
01/07/2026

Well... this was a little challenging. I don't generally work on violins, but I had the opportunity to refret this cool little beast.

Frets worn down to the tang. Was the ebony chipping? You bet. Severe backbow? Yup. Compound radius? You got it. Stainless steel frets? Why make it too easy?

But most importantly, how does it play? No idea... I can't play it. Would I take on another one of these jobs? Absolutely. Would I take on one tomorrow? Absolutely not.



Back in the shop after a much needed rest. Now my assistant can go back to supervising...
09/29/2025

Back in the shop after a much needed rest. Now my assistant can go back to supervising...

Hey all! Just a quick note that the shop will be closed until September 29th. Taking a little holiday! Although I do hav...
09/19/2025

Hey all! Just a quick note that the shop will be closed until September 29th. Taking a little holiday! Although I do have an assistant, he mostly just performs CAT scans.

This '60s Gibson LG1 came in for some love. The original plastic bridge had finally given up, and nearly folded the top ...
09/18/2025

This '60s Gibson LG1 came in for some love. The original plastic bridge had finally given up, and nearly folded the top in the process. So, we find a chunk of rosewood with a similar grain to match the fretboard, and craft a new bridge. I was able to flatten the ridge in the top, and matched the bottom of the bridge to the radius in the top for a great fit. Hopefully this one will keep going for another 60 years!

Fretless conversion for this G&L 5 string.
09/08/2025

Fretless conversion for this G&L 5 string.

This was a fun project. Added a P90 in the middle position. And, due to the carved top of this Les Paul, I had to make a...
08/10/2025

This was a fun project. Added a P90 in the middle position. And, due to the carved top of this Les Paul, I had to make an oversized routing jig to give my router a nice, flat and level surface to work on. Each pickup was wired to have independent volume controls, and the 3 way switch still works as standard.

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Reid Street
Peterborough, ON
K9J3R2

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