First things first. I'm an aspiring luthier and have built several electrics(basses) and repaired many as well. I've recently started restoring my great grandfather's lap guitar. It took forever just to find out who made it and when, but I eventually came upon Carvin's history website and found a picture of their old catalogs. The guitar appears to be a Carvin #8DHG-5C although I can't be for sure.
As you can tell I've gone and cleaned the tuners, pickup cover, bridge, etc. But I'm not sure as to what I should use to clean the body with. I do not want to remove any of the original finish. I want it to keep that old, antique, well used look. There is one spot where someone got some house paint on it, not much but enough to bother me. There is also the number 8 under the fretboard( I assume from when it was made, so the workers could easily tell the difference between the 6 and 8 string models), which means I am the first person to see it in over 50 years! Thought that was pretty cool. Oh.. one more question- What would be the tuning and string guages?