MIMF

Clay Schaeffer wrote:"Firstly, he told me that he wouldn't do this repair on a cheap guitar. He would advise simply spending the money on a new one."

That is something to always keep in mind, and a reason to do the repair in an expedient but effective manner.

Yes. If I was asked to do this for a customer, I may have told them the same.
As it was done for a friend, the charges are minimal.

I now have the new bridge installed, and the guitar is back in the customers hands.
It worked out pretty well. The guitar plays really nicely, and sounds a whole bunch better than before.
I was very careful in fitting the new bridge into the rout, and it went on without a hitch.
I used hide glue.

Another fine job well done! I'm sure your friend is happy to have her guitar back in good playing condition. One of the nice things about being amateur luthiers and repairman is that we don't always have to consider the dollars and "sense" when making repairs. While a Pro has to justify the cost of the job, as amateurs we can take as much time as necessary and not count the cost.

What Clay said! I have done several of these "uneconomical" repairs, and even though the pay is minimal to nonexistent, the experience is priceless. Amateurs just get different things out of of jobs than the pros, but everyone benefits in the end.

Sometimes (most of the time for me) these repairs on less expensive instruments can be even more challenging because you never really know what methods, materials or glues were used until you start tearing into it. Leads to many surprises and then some clever thinking to get around it.
I practiced neck resets on cheap imports and found some very interesting and difficult neck joints. Then the first time I tried removing the neck off a higher quality instrument it came right off as easy as it could be.

Every time I do a repair I learn something.
This time I learned that next time, I may rout the old bridge off, if it gives me as much difficulty as this one.
I also learned that the definition of "Fine Tonewoods" is very liberal. This Washburn had a label in the interior that had those words on it.
I also learned what kind of under-saddle pickup strip to avoid. The strip was way too thick.

Gordon Bellerose wrote:Every time I do a repair I learn something.
This time I learned that next time, I may rout the old bridge off, if it gives me as much difficulty as this one.
I also learned that the definition of "Fine Tonewoods" is very liberal. This Washburn had a label in the interior that had those words on it.
I also learned what kind of under-saddle pickup strip to avoid. The strip was way too thick.

Ha! I think the working definition of "fine" has evolved in recent time. a few decades ago, "fine" was a superlative meant to convey something was of the highest quality or done to the highest degree. More and more, people are using it to mean passable. How was school? It was fine. . . If Ward Cleaver's boss told him he was doing a fine job, he'd be feeling pretty good; If my boss tells me I'm doing a fine job, I might want to start dusting off the resume because I expect the next word to be "but".