Phoenix Intake

The list of damage on this one is so long it's almost not worth going through it, but the bottom line is that it won't be playable.

Here are the highlights:

• Looks like the top and bottom had separated from the body and someone tried a repair. I'll let the quality of the work speak for itself. Note that the splotches on the paint are likely glue that squeezed out when the top was reattached that wasn't cleaned off before finishing. It will be fun to sand that. 
• It looks like the back of the guitar is not original, but it's hard to tell for sure. What gives it away is the roughness of the edge. Looks like a rasp was used, but again, hard to tell. What a mess.
• The bass side of the guitar near the neck is trashed, some sort of traumatic injury, perhaps. Maybe what took the back off. It's quite ugly and in the picture the beads you see are not water, but dried finish. Yeah. 
• The heel of the neck is cracked (all the way through) and is also separating from the body. As a result (or perhaps because of it) the tongue under the fretboard where it meets the body is also quite fouled up. 
• There are numerous deep and wide cracks on the back of the guitar. Likely from some environmental challenge (heat, cold, humidity, etc.). This was likely after the reglue job, since otherwise the back would have just popped off, like it's supposed to, instead of cracking. This is why luthiers working with violins and cellos and such use hide glue. It cracks and separates with little effort, which allows them to be taken apart. Wood glue (or whatever they used) is permanent. Just a theory.
• The finish looks like it was applied by a blind child in the middle of a tantrum. Hopefully it's only laquer and will sand easily. 
• Nice dents on the back of the neck. Looks like the kid's tantrum also involved a hammer.
• Looks like the fretboard was also reglued onto the neck. Lots of squeeze here as well as cloth marks where it was, again, quite poorly finished. 
• Fretboard heavily worn, but that's a plus not a minus here. I'll clean it up and put some fretboard oil on, but otherwise, leave it.
• The tailpeice is rusted. I'll likely sand that down and buff its brains out, but I don't want to paint it, even if it means that some of the pitting from the rust remains.
• The bridge appears to be in good shape. I'm just hoping it's not glued to the top of the guitar. 
• Numerous other finishing issues, but those will sand out. 
• The headstock is quite nice and I'm hoping that it will polish up nice. I'll need to get some ferrules for the tuners.
• Tuners work, so hopefully I'll be able to polish them up and keep them. 

All in all, a ton of sanding and some creative plastic surgery will be necessary, then I'll paint it up and sell it for a decoration. What attracted me to this guitar was the top, so whatever I do will cover as little of that as possible.