The Swami is a great guy to deal with. This has 'MyFirstAlembic' writ large all over it.
If it were me, I'd
1)Talk him down to 8 or 9-hundred (WHO? US? FUSSPOTS???)
2)ReFinish it if you just have to, but certainly invest a couple of evenings' elbow-grease on the brass, etc.
3)Maybe reload with FatBoys since you stole it for $800
I'm not sure WHAT he means about the end of the fingerboard . . . hope it doesn't mean a partial refret and sanding down to good wood. Hopefully some lemon oil in medicinal amounts would bring it back, but you'd have to talk to the Swami to be sure what he's talking about here, and he's a square enough guy to tell you the truth. If it's gotta have major surgery, I'd pass in a heartbeat: No good stealing one, then spending a bunch of money on the back side of the deal.
Remember Paul's mantra!
Rosewood over mahogany is mighty fine, almost a 'poor man's cocobolo', and it's 32 like most SPOILERs.
I almost like fixer-uppers better than new. I get a big bang out of 'restoring' them. When your friends see it after you're through and it looks almost new, they wonder HOW you got it so cheap!
J o e y
