I have just started the top repair with a bass bar patch as the crack was really jagged and totally messy. Ill leave the final shaping of the inlay for when the bar is ready to shape.
The ROUGH linen patches are just for crack support until cleating.

My question is as follows - in the pic there is a chalked cross a few inches below bridge position and for some reason the top has sunk in just a bit over there . I thought this normally happened directly under the bridge feet but the top is nicely rounded where the bridge feet should sit.
Should I try and fit the bass bar over the slightly raised area or is it better to
try and heat press it out in a mould even though it is over a small and pretty thickly wooded area ?

----
 

Press it out flat and do it right.

Ken whats this obsession of yours to always do things right ? ;)

obsession?
 

None, it's my advice to your question. Once opened, do the Top completely. Don't do a bass bar over a depressed top. The purpose of a restoration is to restore. It's your bass so do as you wish.

LOL ,come on Ken that was a joke .... OF COURSE THAT IS GOOD ADVICE TO DO IT RIGHT FIRST TIME :D

I am making a mould for the top now

Keep in mind that a thick top table will not press. You may have to thin it considerably, press it out, then patch the result. Quite an undertaking!

wow?
 

Oh, these are the jokes?.. Geeze, no one told me.. lol

Have fun with your Frenchie.. My Mougenot is done and I am meeting Jeff with the bass at Arnold's place for Lunch with the gang and maybe picking up my Claudot as well. Also, I am bringing my Jacquet up in the car. Wow, French toast for breakfast, gotta be.. Arnold, any French places for lunch in your area since it's mainly a non-Italian day?

Oh, not really. Bringing up the Sirletto for a seam gluing and looking over my Italian cornerless while my buddy Kevin gets an adjustment on her English Hawkes and picks up his tweaked Bollbach Lion bass. So.. it's international day.. yeahhh. Hey, French food never filled me up anyway.. ;)