X-Brace Conversion w/ Vintage Martin Top on Chris Adjustomatic (VIDEO)

Now with Video!
Chris Adjustomatics are really cool guitars, with their unique adjustable neck joints they can play great but never sound good. They typically have plywood soundboards so the tops don’t produce any more sound than a piece of IKEA furniture.

This one had a busted top, so instead of repairing the plywood, I chose to replace it with a 1970’s Martin Factory reject top I had. I xbraced it I n the style of a Martin parlor. I preserved all of the factory pencil marks and oxidation on the top and added a clear nitro lacquer finish.

The result is an incredible sounding guitar, especially for the size. Since the top has never been played I would guess that it will continue to open up and get warmer and more harmonically responsive as it’s played.

Aged Sitka Spruce Top
Sitka Spuce Braces
New rosewood bridge
New bone saddle
Custom bone nut
Maple bridge plate
Acrylic string retainer
All new frets
Radius’s fretboard(normally flat)
Vintage kluson deluxe style (copies) tuners.

There are some grooves on the top where the pickguard would be with some pencils scribbles that indicate this imperfection was why the the top was rejected, not structural issues. The top is marked “00-18C” so it would have been for a classical 12 fret model.

The headstock angle is almost straight, which is great because that means it’ll never snap off, but it also means it needed a string retainer to get the proper angle over the nut.

I’ve had several, they’re fun guitars to have around and take on trips because you can adjust the neck angle in seconds with a flat head screwdriver. There is a simple piece of steel fitted to the neck inside the guitar one set screw that pushes against it to change the angle. It typically just needs an eighth of a turn to make a dramatic difference on the action. Since the neck is only held on by one screw it can come off quickly for travel and shipping.

I think this would make a great guitar to put a K&K pick up in for gigging and open mics etc.

I included a picture of the stack of factory reject tops in the pics. And a picture of the building process. Watch video and look closely at pics!