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Thanks for the answers.

Caballoballo seems satisfied with them too.

I'm still hesitating between giving them a new black coat or stripping the paint off and putting shellac on them, but I'll decide when they arrive.

The seller told me there were no cracks on them, but if there are some, I can fill them and sand the wood down before finishing, that's something I like to do.

I'll post pics when I get them.

Hi everybody.

They finally arrived.

The real measurements of the playing surface are 6 1/4" (ca. 17 cm) and 8 1/4" (ca. 21 cm).

You can see on the pictures they have had a very busy life (but that's what I was expecting anyhow). I can't identify the wood species (some of you guys stated "flor morado", kind of rosewood if I'm not wrong, but I don't know this woodspecies, so I'm not sure).

The shells maybe a little out of round, but it doesn't seem so bad. My only worry is the bottom rim of the hembra, which does not "sit" (don't know the correct term, sorry) tight to the shell any more. I guess I'll have to go to a craftsman and have him making a new one for me. And, as it's a stave construction, when I put my finger on the inside, I can feel the stave junctions at some places.

The priority is for me to change the bottom rim of the hembra, and then refurbish the shells. I hesitate between putting a new paint (black gloss paint, or other colours) or keeping it natural and put then some shellac. I think I'll make a shellac attempt on the hidden sides of the center block. And then new skins will come, of course, but there's no hurry.

And here are the pictures :











Thank you for your answers.

Here they are with 10 coats shellack :







Pictures without and with flashlight.

Next step will be getting the hembra bottom ring repaired, and maybe getting new lugs. New skins will come then.