You can see, this is starting to look like a guitar again, the neck is just placed on and the entire assembly is clamped to a flat surface. I will leave it like this for a few days in an attempt to re-aquaint it with its original shape. The guitar has spent much of the last decades in a collapsed V-shape from the string pressure. This is a very important step, as the neck and top must be in the same plane in order for the strings to lay properly over the fretboard; otherwise it would be unplayable.

The neck itself was still quite flat, which is excellent news because trying to straighten a twisted neck is very difficult. The tuning machines were broken, and when I removed them, I realized they were two different types, neither of which was likely the original. I have purchased some nice new ones, which I will have to distress a bit to blend in with the rest of the guitar.

In this shot, you can also see the inside of the back, with its guaze "band-aids" and new cedar bracing, the bracing has to be shaped and it will be ready to be reunited with the body. I am not sure what the black is on the back and inside the body, it was everywhere, don't know if is was the paint from building. I can imagine maybe one of the kids 60 years ago dumped ink or something into the soundhole and it got sloshed around before it dried - whatever it was made quite a mess.

Good progress with no major setbacks. YET!