1962 Guild M-20 :: my bad bridge re-glue
This is something you hate to see, but I had a bridge repair fail on me. This guitar was in the shop March of 2013 for a bridge re-glue along with other structural repairs. This bridge fit was a tough one with the top bulging behind the bridge and very concave (sunk) in the front. Plus the guitar has been worked on by others in the past including another bridge re-glue that thinned the bridge significantly in the wings (0.040" thick at one point). A large bridge plate must have been installed to attempt to combat the top's belly.
I remembered that last year that I had to clamp this bridge as my vacuum frame would not seal due to the dip in the top in front of the bridge. I use both methods as they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. I wanted to vacuum this bridge on as the bridge wings were very thin and flexible, and my previous attempt to clamp must have been flawed in getting perfect contact (I'm guessing my cauls were not up to the task). So I first removed the bridge and cleaned/checked the fit. Once I was happy with the fit, I installed a brace jack under the x-brace joint to push the top up just enough to get my vacuum to seal. It did not take much and it did not change my original non-jacked fit of the bridge. The cam clamps are holding a slat across the back to support the pressure of the brace jack on the back.
This re-glue was done at no charge as I own up to my mistakes. If this happens to fail again, it will most likely need a new bridge as the bridge is a structural component of the top. It can be thought of a brace that helps to distribute the localized force of the strings. Since this bridge is so thin and flexible, it may not be strong enough. Time will tell. The guitar is a candidate for a neck reset since it has a shallow neck angle so if the player decides to do so, we can make a thicker new bridge at that time as well.