1960s Classical guitar made in Vietnam (?)
Based on a little research I believe this guitar was made in Vietnam, and was likely brought back by a US serviceman. It looks like it's gone through a few wars, but it's mainly because the finish is very thin and brittle. It's hard to handle without making more marks, so the rough appearance probably isn't indicative of a rough life. The frets were a mess when I got it, and my intention was to refret it....no big deal, except the fret slots are about twice the normal thickness. Refretting it would have meant either replacing the fingerboard or filling the slots and recutting them. Luckily I was able to level and recrown the existing frets so all is well. I put a new set of D'Addario Pro Arte strings on it and it sounded like a wet Cheerios box with rubber bands. However I've had the same experience with those strings on other guitars; they seem to need a certain amount of break-in time and now that they've been on there a while the guitar sounds great. Thse strings are worth the wait apparently. I replaced the tuners, as the old ones were pure crap. The inlay work on this guitar is beautiful, as you can see from the closeups.
