One -- I do have a couple tricks up my sleeve for the bridge. It hasn't been declared dead yet.mezcalhead wrote: I wouldn't give up on the bridge just yet .. you can often resurrect them by soaking in WD40 for a while after which they come apart and you can clean the rust off the pieces individually before reassembly .. painstaking but worth it.
I'd also hang on to the tuners, you haven't said what's wrong with them but there are a few tips around here for helping them out too.
Anyway, congratulations! There's nothing like restoring one of these old guitars .. you'll have really bonded with it once you're done. I may have missed it, but do you have a colour in mind?
Two -- the problem with the tuners is that the actual keys are super-loose. I don't know if that will change w/ string tension or not (I don't work with guitars often -- just play them), but it's something I'm wary of.
Three -- I'm just getting AVRI parts where I can. I don't have the money, time, or patience to hunt down actual '66 parts...
Four -- it's going to be black. I loves me some black guitars. Though I will need a new neck -- given the condition of this one, I can't really refinish it to match the body like I would want to on clean conscience.