there would appear to be two pieces under the body in this place - one is the backplate, and the second seems to be a brace for it. they're both relatively thick pieces of wood.

besides the repeated bad bridge repairs, the guitar is in good shape, and i don't have reason to think it's weak under there:

those grooves are where the wood came off, and what i'm trying to figure out is if i want to scrape that layer off (to keep the action low) or try to keep it as close to how it is as possible.

the wood fibers are still on the bridge, and i've been careful not to remove then.

you can see the extra hole for the action.