This guitar is beat to death but still sounds incredible. She sounds so good in fact that I am afraid to do anything with this guitar in case it will change the sound. One needs only to look at the pictures to get a sense of how much abuse this guitar has taken. Where to start? The finish was stripped many years ago and the wood is very dry. I would estimate that 70% of the bracing is no longer in place. In fact, you can hear a few pieces of bracing rattle around when you shake the guitar. The pickguard is long gone and the tuners are missing the top washers. In addition, there are numerous cracks in the body with the most serious being a 5 or 6 inch long crack on the back. This largest crack has resulted in the back lifting completely off from the side (see pic). It amazes me that a guitar with this much damage can sound so good. I have hesitated to restore her or even to have the cracks repaired in order to preserve her voice. This is one of the best sounding acoustics I have ever heard or played.

I am not sure of the exact date of manufacture for this guitar but I believe it to be early to mid 1960's. The guitar has mahogany top back and sides, rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays, chunky neck, and a rosewood bridge. If you look closely you can see that the guitar actually has faux tortoise shell body binding. The guitar originally would have had a matching faux tortoise pick guard.

Like I say, why mess with a good thing. She is not much of a looker but can she ever sing!!