MADE IN JAPAN - THE SMOKE & THE MIRRORS

Ooooh yes!

Time was when "Made in Japan" was a genuine "Mark of Quality". The Japanese have been master woodworkers for more than a thousand years. Most of my best woodworking tools are "Made in Japan".

Sadly greed has superseded pride & master woodworkers have become redundant to the shortcut, the smoke the & mirrors.

When a conscientious guitar maker varnishes the table of his instrument, he will cover the footprint of the bridge with masking tape & lay the varnish on. He will use shellac varnish or a nitro-cellulose varnish which are the gentle options. When the varnishing is finished he will peel off the masking tape & glue the bridge wood to wood!

Then came the dreaded Polyurethane varnish - it sets hard as glass & super shiny. On this guitar, the bridge was glued to the Polyurethane. Unfortunately Polyurethane varnish shrinks causing the glue to lose its grip!

Whoops - bridge parts company from the table! Guitar repairer needs to scrape off all the offending varnish from the bridge footprint (extra) to get an honest wood to wood join.

Scraping off a glass-hard substance from a tender spruce surface is not the best way of passing an afternoon...