The finish is pulling away from the top under the bridge.

[resetpreacher]

Thanks for all of the answers to my question. I realize I am not a luthier but I have some experience working with wood and am used to working very carefully. There really isn't money to pay for a repair especially since I would need to ship to the States for the job (I'm with the military community overseas). This is obviously going to be a more expensive repair than the typical bridge re-attachement. I've used a repairman at a Martin dealer in Seoul before and he botched a very simple job. I can't travel to Seoul right now with covid so figured I would check into repairing myself. I tried to post a picture earlier but when it asked for a URL, I did not have time to figure that out. Here it is:

[Shuksan]

Originally Posted by resetpreacher

Thanks for all of the answers to my question. I realize I am not a luthier but I have some experience working with wood and am used to working very carefully. There really isn't money to pay for a repair especially since I would need to ship to the States for the job (I'm with the military community overseas). This is obviously going to be a more expensive repair than the typical bridge re-attachement. I've used a repairman at a Martin dealer in Seoul before and he botched a very simple job. I can't travel to Seoul right now with covid so figured I would check into repairing myself. I tried to post a picture earlier but when it asked for a URL, I did not have time to figure that out. Here it is:

The link in your post to the photo isn't working, at least for me. (Is that the case for others here?). Strangely enough though, the notification email I got from the AGF of your new post to this thread has a link in it that does work.

If you want, I could post your photo from a different image hosting site that I know works. I think it would be helpful if people here could see your photo to get a clearer idea of the problem on your guitar.

[JonWint]

[IMG][/IMG]

[phavriluk]

Has OP tested the depth of any gaps between the back of the bridge and the soundboard? That injured finish may be just that: thick finish vibrating away from the intersection of bridge and soundboard. The center area of the rear of the bridge shows no lifting.

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by JonWint

[IMG][/IMG]

Is the bridge lifting? I have never seen this before. When I worked at Guild they used to tape the area for the bridge before they sprayed. Other methods is to spray the entire top and then remove the finish by scraping or using chemical stripper. Whatever the reason, that repair is relatively easy to do, careful scraping then careful airbrushing.

[Shuksan]

The finish along this edge of a bridge can lift without the bridge lifting off the top at all. I have a early 2000s Gibson L-150 on which the the bridge is fully glued down to the top, but the finish lifted along that side of the bridge due to a finish adhesion problem combined with the deformation of the top that occurs under string tension. (This was a common problem on L-150s from those years.)

[resetpreacher]

I'm also talking to a professional luthier forum so I don't make a mistake. I'm convinced to not cut through the finish first — too risky. I'll score it around the bridge just enough to locate the repair. The concern then is the best way to remove it. But first I must protect the top around it. What do you see as the most effective method?
I see several ways used to remove the bridge, heat gun, the warmth of a lamp, or metal object. I'm leaning towards using an inch thick piece of aluminum I have and putting it in the oven at 250 (Stewmac's bridge heater is aluminum). I also like the idea of using an infrared thermometer (plenty of those around these days) to make sure I am only getting it up to the temp needed.
Next is removing the finish. A friend who refinishes antiques recommended using Citrustrip, which is much gentler than normal stripping chemicals. But I don't know — what could it do to change the sound? Most talk of scraping it off.

[Shuksan]

Regarding removing the finish, the finish should have been removed during construction up to very narrow margin at the edge of the bridge footprint before gluing the bridge on so there shouldn't be much finish to remove. If you have already scored the finish around the bridge, then after removing the bridge, you can use a razor blade or a #18 Xacto square end blade as a scraper to scrape off that narrow margin of finish up to your score line.

If the bridge was glued directly onto finish over the full footprint, the safest method is to scrape it off using a razor blade and/or a #18 Xacto blade (or similar) in tight spots. For the guitars I build, I use chemical stripper to remove the finish from most of the middle of the bridge footprint to save time, but it's super important to not try to remove all the finish all the way up to the edge with stripper because the stripper can affect the finish a short distance beyond where it was actually applied. That can then damage the finish outside the footprint which would then show after you glue the bridge back on. Also, very important to protect the rest of the top from accidental spills of stripper.

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by resetpreacher

I'm also talking to a professional luthier forum so I don't make a mistake. I'm convinced to not cut through the finish first — too risky. I'll score it around the bridge just enough to locate the repair. The concern then is the best way to remove it. But first I must protect the top around it. What do you see as the most effective method?
I see several ways used to remove the bridge, heat gun, the warmth of a lamp, or metal object. I'm leaning towards using an inch thick piece of aluminum I have and putting it in the oven at 250 (Stewmac's bridge heater is aluminum). I also like the idea of using an infrared thermometer (plenty of those around these days) to make sure I am only getting it up to the temp needed.
Next is removing the finish. A friend who refinishes antiques recommended using Citrustrip, which is much gentler than normal stripping chemicals. But I don't know — what could it do to change the sound? Most talk of scraping it off.

Why are you removing the bridge?

[jonfields45]

Most guitars not luthier built do not have the bridge glued out to the edge. Typically there is finish running under the perimeter of the bridge. My guess is the glue that holds the bridge to the unfinished part of the top oozed out and is responsible for what you are seeing. It is that glue pulling up from the finish due to normal aging and deformation of the top. As others have pointed out dead center behind the bridge, and the rear points of the bridge, look fine (where you would normally detect a bridge glue failure first). I suspect a cosmetic problem.

I would not mess with this guitar. Let it be and wait and see.

[xzy]

It doesn't look like there are any gaps between the bridge and soundboard.

If this is true, I would not do anything. It's purely cosmetic.

[resetpreacher]

Why remove the bridge? — the problem is growing! The area is three times the size it was when I first noticed it. And with it is an effect on the sound, some buzzing is occurring. This in turn is affecting the ability to use the guitar with a sound system. No doubt that vibration is what increased the size.
Thank you, Shuksan, for your advice. I'd be more than happy to take it to a qualified repairman for advice. But the one repairman I found here who should be qualified was perfectly satisfied to reglue the fretboard on my other Guild with a serious bow in it. How can I trust his advice? With Covid, who knows when I'll be traveling back to the States.
Btw, I am quite used to working very carefully (with magnification) and would certainly apply that here.

[phavriluk]

There's chickens and there's eggs. I hope OP does a thorough inspection of bridge security with feeler gauges before removing a well-attached bridge to resolve some unusual resonances that might have other origins. I haven't seen a mention of that inspection being done.

[tadol]

I just came back to this thread - as soon as you saw any indication of the problem growing, you should have taken off the strings until you could do full investigation -