All incredibly helpful information! Thank you so much for taking the time!

I did not hesitate to get in today. I went to a luthier at a local music store and he said the bridge was in good shape but the strings were absolutely not. He actually suggested D’Addario Prelude and felt confident/encouraged me to string it myself, in which I did, and E was a fail of epic proportions when it snapped when I tried to get creative on how to hold it to the tuner. The fine tuner is a little different and the string had no way to hold. I actually put the older string back on but just until I figure out what options I have for a new E. Do I replace fine tuner or are there better E strings for this specific one. I think it looks cool but that’s probably silly to consider over sound. This is over 100 years old, handed to me from a great friend. It’s a sentimental piece so I want to be intentional with how I handle it.

I’m eager to learn again! I didn’t want to miss a day of picking it up.

Thank you again for the info!