This is a closeup photo of how badly damaged and tattered the edges of the back pieces were. The piece that you are looking at is the lower bass side bout round of the back of the body. Since the back on this Martin was made out of two thin laminates you are looking at the inside portion of the back outside laminate. Got that? In other words, the other side of this piece is what you would see as the outside back of the guitar.

The jagged edges that you're seeing evidence the decay of wood that has occurred over the years due to poor storage, and moisture damage. There is no chance of rebinding this edge without extensive restorative work. The fresh light colored piece of wood that you see is a patch that we put in. Since the patch doesn't go all the way through it is invisible from the other side, and since the inside laminate will get glued back on when we put the back together, it will be invisible from the inside of the guitar as well.

If you didn't get all that, at least the photo shows how delicate, and frail the condition of this instrument was in its unrestored state.