Edit: sorry for the novel below! Guess I got carried away lol!
Im telling you. Franklin Guitar Works. A subsidiary of MIRC, the 'USED' place. They sent out an email saying they had all this stuff going up for auction so I went to take a look. Obviously this was a warranty return and they hadn't been able to repair the scratch that was on it that whoever wasnt happy with for their $1100.
That scratch literally disappears when you put a strap on it. So I bid on it and only one other person was bidding with me. The other guitar we were bidding on needed a new nut made for it. They had removed the old one to prep for the replacement and that was it. Same aged Dark Burst finish. So I didn't care which one I won. Then I lost both to the same guy and I was pretty disappointed.
About an hour after the auction ended, I got to my parents house with my mom after taking her to run errands and found my Dad having a stroke. It was sometime during that day that I got the 2nd chance offer to buy it so I didn't hesitate. The last my dad knew was that I had bid on that guitar and was waiting for the auction to end. So, I was able to tell him later that I actually won that guitar.
At least something positive came out of that day. It was hard to be excited about it. That's the main reason I didn't take their offer to replace the guitar with another one when they offered. That and I didn't want the 2nd guitar to get damaged also and end up having to keep a guitar with the headstock completely broken off or something.
I paid $360 and was ECSTATIC to get what was basically a brand new guitar with 1 scratch for that little money. So when they offered a refund of $160, I took it and ran! I knew it would only take me a few minutes and a few $ to, fix it so that was more than enough to make it right.
Tbh, I still would've been THRILLED if I had gotten nothing back and had to keep the guitar as it is for $360. I still saved enough at that price to make it more than worth it.
It just got the first coat of cherry red lacquer sprayed over the crack. Guess it's too late to turn back now lol. It didn't come anywhere close to the tape on the right side so no issues there. The bottom edge of the nut is exposed but that's no problem.
Other than that, it looks like it's going to blend into the oem finish quite well. I'm not trying to cover it completely. Just give it more red tint than it had so it doesn't stick out so much. The dark spots on the right are where the finish chipped out. The finish from pens I was using collected in the depressions and darkened them up big time.