Thanks for bringing up the Martin reference John. I was going to mention it earlier then got sidetracked.
I recall a conversation with TJ many years ago and he had just replaced a bridge plate in a vintage Martin uke and had showed me the original Koa bridge plate. Time had hardened the Koa significantly to the point that the old bridge plate would not indent with a thumbnail no matter how much pressure you could apply. He said he searched high and low to find a suitable Koa replacement and used the densest piece of aged Koa he had. After that he started sunlight aging his bridge plates by setting them in window sills for an extended time. I found it interesting that prolonged exposure to direct sunlight would actually harden the bridge plate wood significantly.
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