This Cort was brought to me only for a change of strings. As I quickly examined it, I realised that there was much more than dust and grime that needed to be cleaned off it.
There was a jagged crack that ran almost the entire length of the bridge.
A crack like this begins (almost always) in between the bridgepin holes and is caused due to three or four reasons. One is when the hole is too small or the bridgepin is larger than usual. Invariably, string tension helps pull the wood fibres apart even as the bridgepin is pushing to make room for itself. This is the main reason.
A second reason is when the manufacturer uses inferior quality material for the bridge. A good hard wood like ebony, rosewood or walnut will resist the temptation to split under pressure for much longer than just any other dyed piece of wood. Not to say that the aforementioned woods will not split; they will but after much longer.
A third possible reason could be using strings far thicker than prescribed for a certain model of the instrument. Here in India, a majority of players are youngsters who are starting off, and while they are into their first-second guitars, the budget usually remains under Rs 17K (around $190). In fact, the lower the better.
In that range, one would be lucky to get a solid top. The back and sides are almost always laminate. So, in such an instrument, if one was to throw on 13s, they are most likely to create havoc with the bridgeplate, the bridge, the neck-to-heel joint and other such.
A little fun fact: the best selling guitar in India (from a reputed Japanese name) costs only around $100!!!! And in that $100, you even get a gig bag, a guitar strap, a few picks, an extra set of strings, and probably a string-winder too!!! I leave it to your imagination the quality of the guitar itself which comes with so many freebies for that price!
Anyway, I got working on what was before me and with some labour, it looked like this
With some more effort, it looked like this
But this bridge was a little different. Usually when I work on bridges, you can hardly make out that they have been worked on. Here the scar was painfully visible. But structurally it was solid.
The owner had tied a noose around the neck of the guitar. On my suggestion he got a strap button put on the heel of the guitar (the ideal place). Here is evidence that I did, in fact, put the strap button, though the photo with the strap button installed, I forgot to take!
Also, on my suggestion, the owner opted to get a bone nut and saddle installed in the guitar in place of the plastic crap already there.
If you look carefully enough, you will be able to see that it is already calibrated to where the height and width of both needed to come down to.
The owner chose these strings to throw on his redone guitar
And soon, all was well and the customer was happy!
