Can my j-50 bridge be saved

[j45nick]

Here is a link to the proper replacement tuner buttons:

tuner buttons

We don't know if a repair will work on this bridge, because we aren't looking at it. We're only speculating about the break, and how well the undamaged portion of the bridge is still attached.

What you can say generally is that a structural glue repair between two wood surfaces depends on wood-to-wood contact with all old adhesive removed. Some glues have gap-filling properties, others do not, but that is not the only limit.

This bridge was almost certainly originally glued on with hide glue. Hide glue gets brittle with age, and tends to flake when a glue joint fails, leaving residue on both of the gluing surfaces. Injecting a synthetic glue into a joint that was originally a hide glue joint is still limited by the remaining strength of the hide glue, since the new glue is primarily sticking to the old glue, not to the wood. 

We don't know if this failure is brand-new, or if it is an old one that has already had an unsuccessful repair. If it has failed before and has previously been repaired, that changes the equation.

If you've ever had brace repairs done on a vintage Gibson--and who hasn't?--you know how these joints can fail, and how important it is to use the right techniques and materials to ensure a successful repair.

This isn't like a headstock repair, where you are dealing from the start with a wood-to-wood joint that is not glue-contaminated unless there has been a previous repair of the same break.

If the repair guy knows what he is doing, and there has been no previous attempt at repair, he can probably make a successful job of it, and he will be able to determine the proper technique. We are always talking here about how a glued joint can be as strong as the original wood, and that is true. But it depends completely on following established methods, and using the right materials.

Luthiers have been dealing with repairs of this type forever.

However, the repair guy is correct in not offering a warranty. 

[zombywoof]

Repairing broken headstocks would be a different  deal because not only can a replaced neck e a deal killer but because of the thickness of the wood they can use splines to reinforce the repair.  Most repair guys I have dealt with though seem to not have trusted a repaired bridge.   The luthier I relied on  before I moved (the vintage martin guys used to call him Doc)  once removed a repaired bridge which had held for years replacing it with a repro.   But as noted, let somebody who knowns what they are doing make the call.   And I certainly ain't that somebody.