[Derek D]

I just acquired a 16B shouldered tombstone(4 band). Yes, the mangled one recently on eBay. Amazingly, it "survived" shipping. This should be a fun project. Nothing like taking something from the junk pile and making it look good again! My question is about the orginal finish.

Are the sides, top, and front trim dark(Van Dyke Brown)? The majority of the front medium walnut? The section between the stripes and below the escutcheon lighter walnut?

I think I can get away with replacing the top and side panels with something other than walnut as it will have dark toned lacquer applied. Probably won't see much of the wood. I may use walnut anyway to keep it as "original" as possible. The tough part is finding plywood that is about 13/32" thick. That seems to be what it measures. I guess I can take a piece of 1/2" through a wide belt sander and take 3/32" off the back.

Also, is the escutcheon suppose to have glass in it? Sorry, I guess that's quite a few questions. Thanks.

Derek