You figured right! Man, that thing didn't fade much after all these years. Must have been stored in it's case. Beautiful!
Thank you...yes - it really pops out. Apparently, it belonged to the left-handed father of the seller (who is also a younger player) for a long time, so it’s spent much of its life in a case. There is no checking that I can detect, but the finish is original. The seller is using the funds to help with a downpayment on his first home, so that’s pretty cool as well.
My best advice is to scour the local classifieds and Craigslist daily. You won’t find them cheap anymore, but you can still find them for considerably less than on Reverb, Ebay, or from vintage dealers.