wow..
That bass has seen some days. A sprung bar in a bass can cause a ton of damage to the top.
To re-shape a top in a mold you have to gut the entire top of all old work and brace it while making the cast to prevent collapse. This is what I have seen, not done so I will make that clear.
Breast patches should be 'feathered' in as opposed to inlaid straight down 'into' the wood as cutting 'down' into the grain of the top and inlaying wood with right angle inlays at 90 degrees can cause cracks along its own edges.
If you have a 10mm center then have him leave as much original wood as possible all around the inside and use as many breast patches inside the top where ever it seems thin based on that 10mm center and re-graduate it after all the breast work is down. It will look strange with all the wood feathering out into the old wood but don't be concerned with how it looks. I just had a German bass restored and it looks quite odd inside but it's graduated quite well.
The cracks under the patches will need to be glued first but if they are distorted and don't close, they should be veined in with small spruce. Sometimes while pressing a top out the cracks open again and again while working on the bass so be prepared for that. In the end all will be tight but, the bass will be like partly new again with all of the fresh wood.
Do not let fresh wood be a factor in graduating the bass to sound old when it's just newly restored. The bass has to break-in again and will take 2-5 years until you start hearing the old wood blend in with the new wood and sound as one. This has been my experience with old basses after major top repairs. Touch-up repairs including re-opening the Top are not unheard of either as the bass breaks back in all over again.
The sound of the bass just before the repair is the condition it has been in for the longest time. It will never sound 'exactly' like that again. It will have more focus in the sound and the old depth of tone will return slowly. My Cornerless bass was just re-strung after its long and detailed restoration and the depth from what Arnold described is not as deep as before but the focus as expected is improved. In time, that bass will mature again as the new wood mixes with the old.
So, be patient with the post-restoration sound and think of the bass's long term health while repairing the top rather than its immediate sound. The sound will come back.
This is the LeJune bass you once showed me, correct?
Also, repair the back and ribs as needed. After the top is fixed, it will be the weakest link that goes so make it all strong and check all the old existing work before closing up the bass. The bass needs what it needs and should never be repaired with limits in mind. I wish your bass (and you with it) the best of luck in its new and continued life.
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