To regraduate or not...

[Arnold Schnitzer]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

I don't see why I would have created a fault line? The bar is still set at a slight angle to the top grain. If I'd finished the regrad at a sharp line parallel to the top grain, maybe. But the stresses are still distributed exactly the same as they were before, because the bass bar is in the same spot. The top is just slightly thinner, and a little thicker immediately under the bar.

Yes, I see your point. I was thinking the cut-out under the bar was following the grain, but this is not really so. Anecdotally, though, I have seen a bass where the regrad was done this way and the top cracked badly. I remember it being pretty thin. And the wall of old top wood on which the bar sat was a good 4-5mm high.