Bridge Re-glue and Top Damage

This bridge had been previously bolted onto the guitar by someone very ambitious to make it work again. Not the best idea plus the added epoxy used to glue it down to the top just made things worse. Once the bridge was removed I found a good amount of missing wood with chip outs fill with epoxy. If I want to glue it back with a traditional adhesive like Hide glue then I will need to patch the top.

Using a router, the damaged wood is removed from the top.

A spruce patch is made to fit the area that has been removed.

The patch is glued and clamped into place. When dry the new spruce will be planed level with the top.

Before the bridge can be re-glued the bolt holes need to be patched.

To do this I decided to ream the holes to match the taper of an ebony Violin peg. I will use the wood from the peg to patch the hole.

The pegs are glued into place and trimmed flush once dry.

The bridge can now be re-glued to the top and the original look is restored.