Bridge plate blues

I knew all along I'd need a new bridge plate, since the old one was split in two. Last night I made a template, and then cut out a rough idea of what I might install. Then I made a prototype, which may just wind up to be the final thing, with a little tweaking.

Here it is just sitting in the guitar, unglued. It looks massive, I admit, but the spruce beneath the bridge is in tough shape. It was drastically distorted from the force of the screws being tightened in a misguided attempt to either fasten the bridge or lower the action. These screws went into a piece of wood inside which straddled the X-brace. Someone tightened the screws to the point where the bridge and bridge plate collapsed and split. A pro luthier may have cut out the old area under the bridge, and replaced it; my thought was that the instrument would still need a larger bridge plate, and I'd be taking on a huge headache for not a lot of payoff. So--I'll just go with the larger bridge plate.

The new plate will have to be bigger than the original for stability, and to help to flatten out the wrinkles that have become a part of the top. So, as big as this looks, it may well be necessary. Some final shaping will be done, but it won't end up much smaller than this prototype.