Throughout my 25 years of luthiery, I've seen the best and the worst of the factory instruments.I've had to correct,repair, and alter many guitars made by the the major manufacturers. Everything that I've learned from correcting the design or the construction of these instruments, has been applied to the design and construction of my own Neely Custom Guitars.
I have been a Certified C.F.Martin Warranty Repairman for over 10 years now and I am warranty station for them. I worked at the Gibson Custom Shop in Nashville and I am also a Gibson warranty station. I also do warranty work for Ovation, Alembic, and Takamine.
There are 2 schools of thought when it comes to luthiery: the builder and the repairman. I don't completely understand why they seem to be mutually exclusive. But also, I don't understand how anybody that works on instruments can get by without playing one either! The explanation is that players don't build, so why should builders play! Good argument, but that's about all it is.
Restoring rare and valuable guitars is one of the most exciting parts of luthiery. The actual goal is not to make the guitar look like new again, that would destroy the value, but to remove all of the negatives and work with what is left. A great restoration will preserve the character of the instrument so that the effect of time will move into the background. I come from the player's standpoint so I like for the instrument to be playable. I recently did a complete restoration on a 1902 Martin 00-45 for actor Richard Gere that took me 5 months to do!! Richard said he wanted it to be the best job I ever did, and it was!!