Some more pictures of my Hillier when I removed the bellows for cleaning and patching. Firstly the view in the case.
Now the tricky bit, thanks to advice from Brian I found that the instrument has to be turned upside down. There are two vertical screws locating the rear corners of the windchest, then there are two oak cross braces held up on four vertical oak stretchers. These are screwed into the sides of the case and you need to compress the feeders to see the screws. The stretchers are extremely tight and I needed a crowbar and mallet to remove them. Notice I've taken the top stretcher off the case too, which was probably a mistake and not necessary.
Finally, this is the state of the lid. Looks like it was used for wallpapering, or maybe the children "decorated" it. Anyway I think it will need a complete strip down and re-varnishing, its warped too, so now completely dismantled. The underneath is actually quite clean and a nice colour. Oh, and yes its veneered.
