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My father in-law gave me this old beater 12 string he had lying around to practice replacing the lifting bridge on. When the bridge came off it took a lot of the top with it.

To deal with the tear out I thought I might rout the top down to the lowest point and then put a patch in. But there is hardly a level surface to work with that would ensure the top I'm left with is level. Any other tips or ideas?

Hey Conner,

The router will work just fine for this job. Make a pair of rails 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide for the router to ride on. I usually adhere them to the top with double stick tape. Just be sure the baseplate is big enough that it wont slip off the rails. When you're done use some naptha to release the tape.

Steve

That looks like a plywood top. You don't want to be routing into that. Glue some spruce into the voids and clean up the wood surface as best as you can with a small scraper or chisel.

Yep,I agree with Barry that looks like a laminated top, only rout off the top ply and replace it.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Sometimes you can salvage the tear out by carefully removing it from the bridge and gluing it right back in place.

Another very simple solution on cheap guitars like that is to just epoxy the bridge on.