Replace old ply back with solid wood?

[Barry Daniels]

We talked about the X-brace being a bit short, but other than that, I think it looks pretty good. Anyone else care to comment?

Is the small sound hole braces already glued in. I mentioned a couple of times that they need to be set back from the sound hole at least 1/4". But this is more about visual than structural. The brace will be very apparent when viewed from outside the guitar. If they are already glued in, might as well go with it.

Just to check, the bridge plate should extend at least 1/8" in front of the bridge and about 1/4" behind the bridge. Yours looks a bit narrow.

[John Damon]

I think it is a bit narrow, guitar has a big moustache bridge. But I got jumpy and glued it in before I saw this. It’s in, I hope it won’t be an issue, what could happen with a narrow plate? The top on this guitar is actually pretty thick. I’ll measure it later and see if you guys think it will fail. Thank you for all your help and tips, it is very appreciated!

[John Damon]

The top is 1/8” thick

[Barry Daniels]

That's definitely on the thick side so it may help with the short X-bracing. Still concerned about the narrow bridge plate though.

[John Damon]

If I pieced in a bit in front and behind would that do anything? I know it would be joints, but I like that better than scraping out the plate.

[Barry Daniels]

I don't think that would do much.

I don't know if the value of scraping it out and replacing would be worth the improvement in structure. Will leave that choice up to you.

[Alan Carruth]

Some old Martins with 'bar' bridges had plates that were exactly the same size as the bridge. The combination of the plate and the bridge ending along the same line made a huge stress riser: all the bending was at that point. I repaired a couple of 0-15s with mahogany tops that broke right at the front and back edges of the bridge. Not fun repairs.