Official Luthiers Forum!

If I am moving the pin holes down, I prefer to replace the bridgeplate or at least install a thin strip of wood over it. That way, the string balls are not resting on the plugs.

I just repaired a 1974 D-28 that appeared to have been sat on. There were loose and broken X-braces, and the bridge had lifted and broken the top and bridgeplate straight across the grain at the front edge of the bridge. The top was sunken about 3/8" in the center. I removed the large rosewood bridgeplate, installed a red spruce patch, then installed a small maple bridgeplate.
After regluing the braces, the top was pretty flat, and there was no need for a reset. I made a new bridge with the saddle and pin holes moved down about 0.15" for correct intonation.
I wedge-fretted the neck, and the guitar came out to be one of the all-time best EIR/Sitka Martin dreads I have ever played.
The owner is a dyed-in-the-wool believer in scalloped braces, but I convinced him that this particular one needed no help in that regard.

_________________
John