Well if the top is overly thick under the bar, and/or the bar is overly heavy and stiff, then you will get a strong top a that spot, no matter what orientation the grain. But this is not necessarily a recipe for a responsive top and optimum sound. Also, this top was NOT intact - as you can see from the earlier pics it was seriously cracked in at least a dozen places; perhaps if the top was more flexible (thickness, arching shape, bar shape) it would not have cracked in that way. Perhaps the strength of the top around the bar itself encouraged cracks to form elsewhere? Perhaps, perhaps not ... who knows? All I know for sure is that the top is quite a bit heavier and less flexible than usual, and the bass bar is also very hefty and stiff. The original bar is intact, sure, but there's no evidence that it is "otherwise sound" if you measure that by how well it performs. So its a matter of using intuition to decide how to achieve the right balance of flex and strength.
@wayne - I think if you are making a plaster mould for each top you work on you must have a very big workshop and be built like a lumberjack! I've never needed to make a full top plaster mould - i'd be interested to see some pics of your setup.
I just have the top sitting in an MDF cutout cradle with no sharp edges and clamped in various ways. I don't use any protection on the top either, the MDF is softer than the wood and varnish, but if I feel the top needs any special support I'll use a smallish sandbag underneath. I'd really hesitate to use any kind of tape on the finish - even painter's tape - imagine the feeling you'd get if the solvents in the adhesive reacted with the varnish and the finish came off with the tape
No thanks.