there is a really good photo in the fiddle method book 'Bluegrass Fiddle Styles' that shows Monroe with Curly Cline and Jimmy Martin circa around 1952 that would have been when Sonny was with Bill - in this pic, you can see astounding evidence of a massive scraping of the finish far worse than what i ever saw at later dates - i'll try to scan the pic, but he did a good one on it for sure, there was little finish left - it wasnt raw wood, and its a black and white, but you can see a huge area of finish gone.
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