Opening the box:
Since the glue used on the top had a very high melting temperature only a hot knife could be used instead of water steam. This did some damage (burns) to the wood which would have to be replaced later.
Mold that grows if the hide glue was not used with "clean" water. Use of destilled water would be ideal.
cleaned back, wonderful flamed maple.
Excellent craftmanship...
cleaned top.. some cracks to take care of.
You can see a typical crack developed from the left side of the saddle (right picture). This typically happend if the original saddle was to tight. The spruce wood shrinks over time and the ebony saddle doesn't.
cleaned neck... the peg hole for the G-string peg is too big and needs to be taken care of later.
