qwertypants Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Hi Bought my guitar about 2-3 months ago and have only played it at home. I noticed today the chrome seems to be blemishing or corroding or something. Does anyone know what might have caused this? What product can I use to clean it safely? Thanks all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Rayba Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 First off, are you sure it is chrome! I purchased a new ES-335 back in 05, and had a similar problem then I found out that the pick up covers, stop bar and tuner handles are nicketl It does start to look old really early. Have no ideal is Gibson is still using nickel on the metal parts. I have a 67 ES-330 and the metal parts are chrome, and still hasn't tarnished at all, they look brand new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwertypants Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Hmmm I'm not even sure! I think it was made in 2011. Anyone got any ideas and how I can get it to look brand spankin new again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 My slightly older 335 has nickel hardware, characterised by a 'brown' hue... Inherently softer than chrome, it can wear and tarnish quite quickly But does have that vintage look favoured by many owners There are cleaners out there...beware abrasive ones which can hasten wear Or leave as is with a wipe over to keep clean V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JO'C Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Hmmm I'm not even sure! I think it was made in 2011. Anyone got any ideas and how I can get it to look brand spankin new again! Hi Qwerty, I'm thinking you have nickel plating. Do you rest your palm on the stop bar when you play? If so it is most likely acid from your skin causing the nickel to tarnish. Different people have different amount of skin acid. I have a 1997 Les Paul Elegant that gets this way when my son plays it but not when I play it. The first time it happened I was really bummed out thinking that it was permanent. One of my bandmates gave me a tube of SimiChrome polish. Like magic it brought it back to new condition. Now I use it a couple of times a year and the metal is looking good. SimiChrome comes in a small toothpaste tube and it's totally non-abrasive. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifeson355 Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 I've found that wiping down the metal parts with a dry cloth after I'm done playing helps a lot. Use a separate cloth than the one you use on your finish, of course. My '88 Les Paul Standard took a beating on the nickel hardware because I very rarely wiped it down. With my ES-335 I've been wiping it down, both metal and finish, after I play and it seems to be working well so far, and I consider myself to have fairly corrosive sweat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwertypants Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Thanks for the advice - it is probably the sweat from my palms then! I will order some simichrome and see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Guitar platings are pretty crappy so if you use Simichrome be very gentle. Forget using it on any gold plating, it'll buff it right off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JO'C Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Guitar platings are pretty crappy so if you use Simichrome be very gentle. Forget using it on any gold plating, it'll buff it right off. I don't have any issues using Simichrome on my nickel plated Gibsons. They come back to like new every time and never has the plating been damaged. Then again they are Custom Shop guitars, so maybe the plating is better. Gold on the other hand is extremely soft and the plating is as thin as possible since gold is so expensive. I've found that spraying some Simple Green on a soft cloth and gently wiping will get the tarnish off gold plating without ruining the plating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Good tip with the Simple Green. Are you using a wet cloth to wipe it off with afterwards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JO'C Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Good tip with the Simple Green. Are you using a wet cloth to wipe it off with afterwards? Yes, just enough to rinse off the residual soap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 My slightly older 335 has nickel hardware, characterised by a 'brown' hue... Inherently softer than chrome, it can wear and tarnish quite quickly ... V Brown tarnish says it's probably pure nickel, no alloy. ... Then again they are Custom Shop guitars, so maybe the plating is better. Gold on the other hand is extremely soft and the plating is as thin as possible since gold is so expensive. ... To my experience, Gibson Custom uses pure nickel which is easier to clean and allows for doing that more often until the plating is gone. I think that widely nickel alloys are used for platings. In most cases these will show white, powderish corrosion. This applies to the stock Grover tuners on two 1970's Gibsons of mine and my 2013 Epiphone Tribute LP's Gibson (sic!) pickup covers, bridge and tailpiece. Just the other way round compared to my 1970's Gibsons with all the other hardware chrome-plated, on this Epiphone guitar the Grover auto-locking tuners have chrome plating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwertypants Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 thanks for everyone's help - the simichrome cleaned it up real good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qblue Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 I don't have any issues using Simichrome on my nickel plated Gibsons. They come back to like new every time and never has the plating been damaged. Then again they are Custom Shop guitars, so maybe the plating is better. Gold on the other hand is extremely soft and the plating is as thin as possible since gold is so expensive. I've found that spraying some Simple Green on a soft cloth and gently wiping will get the tarnish off gold plating without ruining the plating. I wouldn't do anything to a gold plated guitar, as it shouldn't tarnish. It's gold! I would wipe away any sweat immediately, though, and I do, though I rarely sweat. I have found the less you do, such as wiping with solvents, the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Buy an Epi Dot. It has chrome hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 After seeing this thread I googled Simichrome to find out where I might buy some as I wanted to clean up the nickle plate on my CS336. One click and up came Walmart. But rather than order it online and pay shipping and wait a few days to get it etc I thought I would just run out to the local Wallyworld and pick some up. Alas after searching a few deparments and checking with customer service my local store didn't carry it. But across the street at Ace Hardware I found some MAAS polish which named nickle as one of the metals it was good for. I got some and it worked great although it warns to take it easy on plated surfaces as too much might take the plate right off. I used it a couple days ago - easy on, easy off and looks good. So just an FYI if you can't find Simichrome, the MAAS polish works well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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