OK after lots of staring at it hoping it would work itself out i actually made some progress with the bridge today. Lots of measuring and mocking up in illustrator. I'm going to make it string through so that alleviates some of the tension on the bridge plate, I just have to worry about having somewhere to mount the saddle adjustment screws. So i'll cut two bits of plate the main plate with a slot in it and the smaller plate with a tang. Then once I've cut them out I will braze them together and hopefully I'll have my very own bridge design working. I'm going to order some brass saddles to go with.
So I'm feeling pretty good about that end of the guitar. Next challenge will be some suitable tuners...........Then I need to make a jack plate, neck plate, control cavity cover and truss rod cover and hopefully that'll be the end of the brass work!