More diamonds in the rough !
The rust color on the headstock is from condensation reacting with ferrous metals and slowly migrating (weeping) down the slope of the headstock stored flat over a very long period of time. I like to think of it as a guitar weeping from sitting stone-still in the dark for a long time and wanting to make music again.
There's interesting history behind string posts and ferrules missing like this guitars'. Back during this guitar's early life, light gauge string sets had just come into existance and not become popular and widespread until about 1970. In the meantime the most common sets and sources were .012 - .058 Black Diamond "barbed wire" sold at drug stores, department stores and at general music stores if a town even had a music store. The heavy gauge strings common back then would put allot of tension on the tuners gears and ferrule barrels making the tuners feel tight to turn, especially if they weren't lubricated; And a lot of low-end market guitars were sold to people who didin't know allot about proper maintenance; So many people trying to reduce the tight tuner turning friction would loosen the screw on the gears thinking that would help (and it would, slightly), at the cost of the screws falling out, then the string shafts falling out when a string broke, then the ferrules. But a GOOD thing resulted: Folks would store the guitar away which, like this guitar, kept them in pretty darn good refurbishable condition. As most guitar techs do, ...I have quite a batch of vintage tuner parts I've salvaged & saved for quite awhile. |