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I will be getting this job from someone who attempted to remove a bridge himself, and botched it....

He basically tore a lot of wood fiber from the top removing the bridge, and I was wondering, if the surface under the bridge is uneven what would be the right thing to do to even them back out? Should I inlay more spruce into that space (a difficult job) or smooth it out the best I can and glue it back on?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

It's insane how much lacquer the factory left in there!!

The tearout looks minimal, just clean around it as well as you can. Don't try to blend / soften it as this will only increase the thick glue area.
The important part is towards the back edge, that is where you want good contact between fresh wood on both surfaces.

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Build log

^^^ What he said. ^^^

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

upon further examination it looked as though its one of those cheap guitar where they stick the bridge onto the still wet finish or something, and those glue doesn't release with heat but doesn't hold on so well... I really hate those.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

No, you can see the area where the finish was removed from the top before gluing the bridge, and they left some fairly large areas of finish under the bridge. It looks like some of the spruce that came off the top with the bridge has been scraped away from the bottom of the bridge. I would remove more finish from the top so that the bridge completely seats on bare wood. This will reduce that amount of non-contact with the joint. Glue with HHG and you should be good to go.

Like barry says HHG.I would leave as many of the spruce bits on to get a good tight fit

I usually like to sand the bottom of the bridge to make sure the surface is clean, how do I leave the spruce bits on in order to do that? HHG doesn't stick too well to dirty wood.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Tai - in all my years of regluing popped bridges, I can tell you that there isn't enough wood gone to make a difference. Sand or scrape the bridge clean, and remove the excess finish from the top with a scraper or exacto blade (sanding there is kind of a pain). Glue that baby up, and clamp it.

I promise you'll be good to go.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I would...1.) Pull large splinters of spruce off the bridge, and glue them back to the top. 2.) Place bridge on guitar and score around the edge. 3.) Remove excess finish to score line with chisel. 4.) Level top as much as is within reason using a small sanding block. (its okay to overlook relatively small voids) 5.) Glue bridge (after having sanded flat again) to guitar.

That's basically how I would do an expensive Guitar bridge. Dissolving the original glue that is on the bridge and pulling off splinters. Re-glue them to the corresponding area. I tend to gently scrape the gluing areas rather than sand.
On a cheap Guitar I wouldn't bother pulling off splinters . . .

I always scrape that area... I can't achieve pinpoint accuracy with sandpaper... its just not possible for me. With a scraper you can accurately clean a small area but with sandpaper its like painting with a big brush.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I would first make sure that the bridge is in the proper place to begin with. A lot of those cheap guitars are intonated badly. Then clamp the bridge down and score a line around it with a sharp razor point. I never felt comfortable using a router on the top though it's probably the quickest and easiest. Either way the scored line will flake the poly finish off at the right spot. I use a chisel and lift it off and then scrape it clean.