Martin HD28 acoustic action reduction w/JLD Bridge System and set up

*Apologies that the HDR colour went wrong in the first few minutes of close-ups in this video. The camera just couldn't cope with the reflections from the Martin's top!*

This video presents a real-life challenge: when presented with a relatively new Martin acoustic that needs action adjustment do you a) ALWAYS make action adjustments with a complex and expensive neck reset / shimming or do you b) achieve an improvement via the saddle?
There are some who will say that action changes should ONLY be done via neck reset and frown on attempts to achieve the same by reducing the saddle. This has never made sense to me - particularly when faced with a guitar like this. This guitar came with relatively little scope for adjustment via the saddle (about 2mm available at the treble end but risking losing the string break angle if I used all of that height to reduce the action) and a bellied top which was likely to continue rising over time. Whether the guitar is a Martin or a cheaper brand this is a very common state of affairs: at some point the string loading pulls the bridge forwards and up and drags the top of the guitar behind the bridge up with it. Some don't. Many do. The internal bracing in the guitars seems to work sometimes... and sometimes not.
I presented the options to my customer as follows: you can either have the neck reset to lower the action (expensive and you're still left with a bellied top that's likely to rise further over time) or you can lower the action via the saddle + the use of a JLD Bridge System (commonly known as the 'Bridge Doctor") to arrest and hopefully reverse the lifting top to some degree (much cheaper). Stu chose the latter option and since the guitar is a long-term keeper, Stu was also happy for me to notch the peg holes slightly to increase the break angle of the E and B strings if required.
In this video you'll see me assessing the 'deflection' of the top (to see how bellied / curved it actually is) before fitting the JLD Bridge System in the guitar and tightening it up. I cut and fitted an ebony plug to hide the screw the Bridge System requires through the bridge. The Bridge System immediately positive, reducing the bellying noticeably. I then continued by lowering the bridge saddle to get the desired low action. A challenge on this guitar was that with the new action, the original hand-shaped nut was now too low and a new one had to be custom-made from a block of Tusq. This is never an easy task - particularly in terms of setting the string spacing which, on THIS Martin seemed unusually wide at 39mm e-to-e. Whether or not that's a normal or a custom spacing, it's the one that Stu is used to so it was vital to re-created it rather than impose a more 'standard' spacing.
The end result is successful: for a fraction of the cost of a neck reset the guitar has a fantastically low action and plays fine even without needing to slot the peg holes. The JLD Bridge System has stopped and reversed most of the bellying which bodes well for the future.