[Eliot Ness]

Looking good   

I've found that AK grille cloth seems to hold up better than many of the others.  I've found many AK sets where the finish was beat and the cloth faded but still intact.

I think I've decided that this is my favorite Cathedral design

I remember pouring over my old collecting bible, "A Flick Of The Switch" by Morgan E. McMahon, and looking at these three styles of AK cathedrals.  Eventually, and somewhat unintentionally, I slowly acquired all three of these.  The 708 was first followed a few years later by the 217 that promptly got buried and forgotten on a garage shelf.  When I eventually rediscovered it 3 or 4 years ago I had developed a deeper appreciation for this "squatty cathedral" design and decided I needed the 246 to round out the set.  Lo-and-behold at Kutztown that fall a friend brought a model 246 and made me a deal I couldn't refuse.   While the 708 is the more deluxe of the three, the 246 and 217 have grille and inlays that make them interesting in their own right.