This is a question often asked by those responsible for the conservation and enhancement of ancient instruments, both in museums and in private collections.
The prestigious luthier and guitar-restorer John Ray spoke about this dilemma -focused on guitar - during the Badalona 2017 Guitar Conference, the event organized by our association on the bicentennial of the great luthier Antonio de Torres.
In this interesting lecture, John Ray also explained to us the main difficulties involved in restoring a historic guitar and some of the techniques he uses in his work.
Watch John Ray's entire lecture (42 min.)