how to remove an - EPOXIED bridge - arrrrrgh!

[Howard Klepper]

Not the original bridge plate, and mistakenly not extended to the arms of the X.

But beyond that the guitar has been rebraced left-handed. That is really unusual and unnecessary, and it doesn't look very well done.

I again question whether you brought it to the right repair tech. All this is easy to spot, and should have been told to you on his first examination of the guitar.

Let's see all of the guitar. I'd guess the back has been off, and who knows what else?

[elasticman]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Not the original bridge plate, and mistakenly not extended to the arms of the X.

But beyond that the guitar has been rebraced left-handed. That is really unusual and unnecessary, and it doesn't look very well done.

I again question whether you brought it to the right repair tech. All this is easy to spot, and should have been told to you on his first examination of the guitar.

Let's see all of the guitar. I'd guess the back has been off, and who knows what else?

you can tell all that from my very bad (and blurry) video capture frame? I'll try to take some iPhone pics. Now you have me worried Howard

[fazool]

Originally Posted by MC5C

Epoxy yields to heat, the same as glue. ...

That's bad information.

I work with epoxy at work that cannot be removed even with heat (I'm talking
900 deg heat)

If you do find some that is heat removable, depending upon the epoxy and the glue there can be massive differences.

[elasticman]

just got back from my luthier. We took some better pictures that may shed some light. He is admittedly not up on Gibson bracing patterns but it does look like someone flipped some tone bars at one point in this guitar's life. So for a lefty I would think this is great?

[John Arnold]

The smaller brace just below the bridgeplate has been added.....possibly to reduce belly. A common mistake is to think the factory arching of a Gibson top is something that needs to be corrected. Gibson 'flat tops' are far from flat.
The two tone bars appear to be original....just reglued in the left-handed orientation, and too far apart.

[elasticman]

BTW the dark lines in the photos are cracks in my luthier's mirror

[fazool]

I'm no Gibson expert but I'm sorry to say that looks poorly done.

The removed braces tore out some wood from the sound board and there is considerable glue slop.

And, as suggested, that replacement bridge plate looks wrong.

[redir]

The glue slop fits in perfectly with Gibson's standards

But wowzza! Someone went through an insane amount of work for absolutely nothing. The so called tone bars going left to right or right to left have no impact on the tone. When you think about it, do we really thing that a bass string moved 2 1/4 inch over to the right along the bridge is going to have that big an impact on tone?

I'd like to think that the guy who did this did it as a test to try and prove the old wives tail that the slant of the brace is rightie or lefty. My guess is he would have found nothing. Of course putting that brace in and stiffening up the triangle of the X-Brace and bridge plate would probably have the most profound influence on the tone of that rebuilt top.

[Mr Fingers]

Unless there's enough epoxy to be a tone-killer -- that stuff sucks -- I would go along with the patch/re-rout advice to get the saddle set for a righty. I have experience removing epoxy from bridges, as I have an old Gibson that some nimrod "repaired" by slathering epoxy in the slot in order to "fix" a wobbly saddle, and then used more epoxy to fix a crack in the bridge. Epoxy does break down with heat -- but not like other glues. I had to use a soldering iron to heat small areas, which would then release when picked-at with my Xacto. The epoxy breaks down and becomes kind of brittle and grainy -- it falls apart. But it does not release easily -- at least not for me -- and removing a saddle that is epoxied down could be a disaster since you can't really get at the glue under the bridge. You can rout and plug a rosewood saddle almost invisibly. I had to cut out and replace some hacked-up wood around the saddle of my Gibson, and this was pretty easy to do and came out invisible and strong. I'd do that rather than trying to remove and epoxied bridge. Good luck.

[Truckjohn]

I think you need to consider leaving it lefty and reselling it to a lefty player. Lefty guitars are like hens teeth..

Its going to be expensive and time consuming to "Fix" this whole mess and restore it to righty play...

On the other hand... "Fixing" it given keeping left hand play may require no more than a new bridge plate....

It sounds like repair wise - your luthier is on the right track and for whatever reason - you are second guessing him. If you don't think he is up to the challenge - pay him for the consultation and send it to a luthier who restores these sort of guitars.

[tadol]

Yeah, looking at those interior pics, I'd leave well enough alone, do the minimal to make it a good players lefty, and find yourself another one thats right (and right!) -