you have me intrigued philly - what is it like now? how can it be saved??
Well, with apologies for boring anyone who's heard the story before (and for the thread hijack):
The lining of the case reacted with the guitar's finish (which I guess is nitro) and sort of "ate" into it - not right through to the wood or anything dramatic, but it's left the whole of the back of the guitar with a strange matt, textured finish. It might polish out, but I suspect it would be better to to give the whole guitar a few clear coats.
It's been lying around for years with no bridge, no pickups or electronics and lines drawn all over the top where I planned to correct the bridge and pickup alignment after some early bodges.
I also can't decide whether to get rid of the Kahler. I have one of the old Kahler flatmount fixed bridges (as used by Mustaine and Friedman many years ago) which would cover the hole, but it would be better to actually plug the tremolo cavity, which is beyond my woodworking skillz (and toolz).
(
Ideally, I'd like to get it back to original spec with the little hardtail bridge, but that would mean replacing the whole maple veneer, which I'd never do - I'm too fond of the original top and the colour)
