Last week I was given a 1959 Guild A-50 archtop by an old high school friend. It was made in the original Hoboken, NJ plant. It had been in his basement and gotten some water damage to just the finish when his basement leaked last summer. The binding was also loose in a few places due to age and de-gassing. I have reattached that.

Because it is a vintage collectible I have done nothing to the finish. I cleaned the guitar, fretboard (and put lemon oil on the fretboard) and cleaned the nickel plated metal parts. I adjusted the truss rod and set the action (low for an acoustic with no fret buzz). The intonation is right on and it sounds and plays great! Luckily there was no structural damage. He had considered throwing it out, but instead, offered it to me to repair if possible, or to throw out if I wanted. No way I was throwing it out!

The photo is prior to cleaning the metal parts and finishing the loose binding.

OH my! I wouldn't call it FRUGAL, so much as wicked awesome! That's a beautiful guitar.

Great Gift!
Congrats.
Later,
Terry

Lovely instrument. And not too much finish checking, it seems.

Normally I would call a more expensive piece of gear purchased for a song frugal - like a $100 used Peavey Bandit - because they are not impossible to find and they represent a conscious price/performance choice. But FREE - for a guitar like that - is just luck - and I'm not going to give you frugal credit for a non-repeatable purchase. ;-)

But I hope you bought some lottery tickets on the same day...