Here is a picture of the two original back laminates made out of birdseye maple. For the longest time we wondered why "Old Man Martin" would have made the back out of two thin laminates as opposed to one solid piece. I can't imagine what possibly could have passed for a thickness sander in 1834. The only thing that we can think of was a big sanding block and well developed arm muscles! That still doesn't answer the question of what was used to hold down such large and thin pieces of wood so that they could be sanded in such a manner. At any rate this type of construction 160+ years ago was definitely on the technological edge of the time.

We may not have figured out how it was done back in the day, but we now know why. Recently we got a Gibson AJ- Vintage natural in the shop for some rather extensive repair work. The back and sides of this instrument are made out of solid pieces birdseye maple. After we repaired the top on this Gibson, the back simply caved in and began to unglue itself from the center strip! We pulled it, steamed, rejoined it to the center strip and rebraced it. Guess what. It caved in again. Finally we made some seriously huge braces for the back, and that held it in place. Unfortunately by this time, after all the work that was done on it, the back ended up just a 32nd of an inch or so too small for the body. So we had to order a new back from Gibson, because they still had some of the same batch of maple. They informed us that they no longer make the birdseye maple models because the wood is just too unstable! Surprise surprise!! When we got the new back, the braces that the factory custom shop put on were just as hefty as the braces we finally settled on.

Well it seems that C.F. Martin was very aware of the stability problems associated with birdseye maple. He also built his instruments with very light bracing. In order to reduce the amount of warpage that would occur with birdseye maple, he must have decided to use laminates. His idea worked, because although the back had some decay, and multiple stress cracks it still held its shape after 160 or so years. The man was truly an excellent luthier. I know this for a fact, not just from rumor or legend, because we have the distinct honor of restoring one of his pieces.