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  #34  
Old 08-07-2016, 08:30 PM
John Arnold John Arnold is offline
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Quote:
Like I said before, when I look at this repair I simply see a repeat of what was done before.
I should give up, but I am going to try once more. A spruce patch (even one that is the exact same dimension as an oversize hardwood bridgeplate) is fundamentally different in 4 very important aspects:
1) Less weight. Spruce weighs about half what a typical hardwood used for bridgeplates weighs.
2) Stiffer in the direction of string pull. The spruce patch is grain aligned with the grain in the top. This makes it better able to resist bridge rotation than any hardwood of reasonable thickness installed cross-grain.
3) Less stiff across the top. This allows the top to vibrate better across the grain.
4) Tapering thickness of the spruce patch below the bridge further reduces weight, but full thickness above the bridge reinforces the top against sinking. Tapering is not advisable with a conventionally installed oversize bridgeplate because of #2 above. Spruce is stiffer along the grain than a hardwood is across the grain.

While a hardwood bridgeplate of the same dimensions could be installed such that the grain is parallel with the grain in the top, it would never sound as good as the spruce patch because of the increased weight and increased stiffness across the grain.

Quote:
Time will tell if it lasts
You are welcome to reread post #19.
The OM in my previous post was repaired in 1994, and lived with medium gauge strings installed for around 10 years. I still own that guitar, and it is played regularly. The action has not changed, and the saddle height is unaltered.
To expound on what I said in post #19, I have repeated this repair dozens (if not 100+) times over the past 25 years, and I know of no unsatisfied customers or premature failures. Zero. That means none. Many of those guitars were considered unrepairable without a total replacement of the top.

Last edited by John Arnold; 08-07-2016 at 08:40 PM.
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