[Matthew Tucker]

Well, this hunk of timber needs to be replaced. It's going to be a time consuming and messy job pulling it out without damaging anything. I'm going to try to steam it all apart but if this gets too tricky I'll probably end up cutting it out.



I found a bit more of the original varnish under a lot of dirt; it gives me the original colour, but there's no chance of recovering any of it on the ribs.



found some more metalwork holding the ribs on. Glad I found these before my blades did.



And yet MORE Metalwork ...



This is the wonderful screw I'm going to keep as a trophy! Pretty amazing that another hole was drilled right through the shank for the bolt that I originally extracted from the back of the button!



Loosening the neck block at the back seam. Look at all that stickiness:



Previous button repair came away. Some of it has been repaired with spruce, and there's a fair whack of putty in there too. I'm going to have to restore the whole button from scratch.



I got the old neck heel out sans trop de dégâts. The tear you can see on the right is the old spruce block that will be replaced entirely. Look at that lovely crack, subject to so much metalwork and dowelling in its lifetime!