The Hub

An Alvarez MF350C arrived on my bench recently. The bridge was lifting ever so slightly, which prompted me to look inside. It's got a bridge plate like I've never seen before. The pin holes are on the very edge of the bridge plate. Seems like you'd want some of the re-enforcement behind the bridge pins. This one, there is none. Some questions: Is that normal for an Alvarez? Could this have been replaced at some point? What are the implicat…

Hey all. I have a Martin D18 with a severe belly up. The bridge has nearly popped off all the way at the time it was brought to me. Looking inside, the bridge plate has a crack going across all the pin holes. There's a few additional cracks above them toward the sound hole. Replace, or not replace, that is the question? Is this plate salvageable, with a tool like StewMax's BridgeSaver? I'm planning to heat treat the footprint of the bri…