I have this 87 Flatiron Festival I got here on the Cafe a few years back, I thought it was decent but more of a "beater" instrument for me to "festival" with. I took it to some North East Fall jams, and was surprised to see the black lacquer top turn green when the temperature dropped below 60 F. Lets just say it had seen better days, so I took it down to Mr. Tom Dobrovich near Binghamton NY. He told me the lacquer must have faded, hence the wierd temperature reaction. I asked him to remove the old lacquer and re finish it in gloss black. He wet sanded it and taped the binding. He also cleaned up the fret board and frets, replaced a plastic nut with bone, and reinforced the bridge with veneer (something he did on my mandola). While the tone is still not as deep as some of my other F5s, I will say it has improved considerably, after Toms TLC. There is considerably more bottom end, more volume , more ring and the setup is slick. I don't have any pre - refinish pictures but I can't say enough about Tom's excellent work.
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