Old martin bridge replacement damages...

[thefishinmusician]

I've got what I believe to be an old 39 Martin in the shop to undue past " repairs "....Along with having to re-set the neck at a shallower angle , and replace the HUGE bridge that was built to support the enormously tall saddle , and replace the bridge plate , that just had another piece of wood glued over the old one....Anyhow , I removed the honking old bridge and found this underneath...Yes , that's the bridge plate you can see near the pin holes...It's a mess....I've found this once before on a Gibson 12 string , and ended up patching the mess with a piece of spruce , basically , making a sammich between the bridge plate and the bridge....Any thoughts , dear readers ?

[Eric Steven Johansen]

No choice but to replace the spruce with a patch but this is a tough one. Do you remove the old bridge plate first? Delicate work to say the least looking at the fragile condition of the top. Gotta say that my inclination would be to remove the back and the neck so I could clamp the body down to a workboard and attack the bridgeplate from the underside first, giving you a stable surface to fit the patch of spruce to. Not an easy repair any way you look at it. Keep us posted.

[thefishinmusician]

I'v gotten the glued over piece off so far....The original one is loose around most of it....Of course , thats when I discovered that I was looking at the bridge plate a I worked my Reese's Peanut Butter separation knife around the edges...There were top cracks that were separated from the braces that I thought had been repaired , but were not as well....There will no no lever action involved in removing the original plate...I'll get it off , but I stopped when I realized I was looking at the plate from the top....Customer not willing to pay for a lot of work , considering all the work I've got to do....I already had to cut the fingerboard extension off to get at the dovetail , which , not finding a pocket for the steamer...I was correct...Tight as a tick , with a couple of places where I can heat it on the very edges of the dovetail...I'm making him a smaller , correct sized bridge , and he knows the finish near the new bridge will look like crap.....He just wants to be able to play it...P.S.....For some reason , the fingerboard was replaced , so that de-values the whole guitar a crapload....I'm doing it pretty cheap , just to keep it alive....

[harrison phipps]

I have seen these before also. I cut out the smallest rectangle of the top necessary to get to good solid spruce under the bridge. Glue in a rectangle of new spruce about the same thickness. If necessary, level the new spruce to be flush by using a dog leg chisle. Getting the top to look good with a smaller bridge footprint is the real challange here, at least it would be foe me.

[thefishinmusician]

Customer knows it won't be pretty....What I did on the Gibson was dremel out the rotten parts with the plate still attatched....Then , fit the patch as close as I could get...( got real close ) thickness wise...May have taken a couple shots at it , just like recording a song , and used the best take....Took the last bits from underside with  a sandpaper block .....

[Frank Ford]

HEre's one way to go:

 

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/Structural...

[thefishinmusician]

Thank you Frank , especially for easing my mind on having to resort to epoxy on some of the work...Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do....You is my hero !...

[John]

I can offer optimism and encouragement.

http://fretsnet.ning.com/forum/topics/looked-like-a-write-off

It turned out better than I thought it would. 

[thefishinmusician]

That's a real brow wiper !....The 12 string I did was similar....Thanks !