it did turn out to be just grime from general wear and the flash worked a treat. Its a lot nicer to play now. There are a lot of tiny dinks in the neck that just seem to be in the laquer. All I can think is they seem like thumb nail marks, maybe howard hughes played it at some point! It does not affect the playing but it is rather intriguing as to why they are there. I will try and get a pic up of it at some point
cheers
pete