It was about 20 minutes before closing on Saturday and an old guy brought it by the booth. He was asking $600. Several other dealers had already passed on it (I talked to a couple of them who said they wanted to grab it, but the day had been so slow and they had made so little that they didn't have the cash). The curling pickguard looked pretty bad, but hey, it's just a pickguard. The worse thing was that there is about a 1/2 chunk of wood gouged out on the back of the peghead on one top corner - invisible from the front. It was filthy, but it looked structurally sound, so I offered $500 and he agreed. The mahogany back and sides cleaned up very nicely and the top is fine other than a few cosmetic battle scars. I feel very lucky to have scored it.
Bill, tgo
