TMG,
I see four top cracks. Those wouldn't be especially expensive to have glued and cleated. I paid Tom <$50 to have a 4" top crack glued and cleated on my D-44. I can't imagine those costing more than $200 (but give Tom a call and ask him... two are from bridge to butt, and two smaller (3-4")). However, it is entirely possible that those cracks are already glued and cleated. Everyone I have talked to said that repaired top cracks have little, if any, affect on tone (relative to pre-crack).
It appears that most of the finish is gone from the neck.
I don't think there has been any work done on the back... The rosewood centerpiece looks original to me. I PM'd the seller with my opinion (and showed him pics of the back of my D-46, with its rosewood centerpiece).
Th $64 million question... are there unseen issues. How much saddle is left? Is this guitar an immediate candidate for a neck reset? I can't see enough detail of the saddle to tell... I might ask the seller (tho' time is short) how much saddle is left, and what the action is at the 12th fret. Even then, you can't always tell... sometimes just a truss adjustment is all it needs to bring the action down where it needs to be. If it's OK... it could be one heck of a player.
Given its relatively "rough" condition, I might expect this one to sell for <$500... but one never knows (the lowest I think I have ever seen a 46 go for on eBay was $650, and it was in much better shape than this one... the high was >$1000, and mine was ~$950).
For comparison, New Hope has
one for ~$1175, and there is
this oneon Portlands CL.
They're really nice sounding guitars... you've heard and played mine. Haven't heard of a bad one, yet. But, this one might be a gamble. The good thing... they aren't that rare... one shows up every couple months or so.
Dave
