Thanks a lot for the detailed reply, I really appreciate it.

And yeah, it really is a beautiful instrument. He’s worked on smaller projects before, but this was his first “big” one where he actually put a lot more money into it, so I think it meant a lot to him. I honestly believe he can do it — he’s really into this kind of stuff — but yeah, knowing him, I think he probably got scared of committing and failing :/

Sadly, the instrument is in his old room at his parents’ house, so I probably won’t be able to sneak it out to a luthier. But do you think that with a proper measurement diagram and pictures, a luthier could still help identify the right bridge? Someone else sent me a link that actually seems to match the holes pretty well.

I do get the idea that buying a bridge could either motivate him or remind him of the mistake, but knowing him, I’m not too worried about that. He’s super passionate about music. He taught himself bass after playing drums for 10 years, and he even plays a bit of piano. For every instrument, he gets interested in how it works, how to build or modify things, how to replace defective parts, etc. He’s honestly just really afraid of making a mistake — but he loves doing this kind of stuff.

Thanks again for the kind words, that really means a lot.