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Fast corrosion in humid oceanside clima


Sebastian S

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Hi fellow musicians,

 

from my bedroom window I have a beautiful sight over the atlantic ocean. Sounds nice? Well, for my ES-339 PRO it seems not to be the most pleasant atmosphere.

After a few weeks only, my frets start rusting heavily and the pickup toggle switch refuses to work.

 

So what shall I do? Changing the toogle switch against one with golden contacts f.e? And what about the frets? Polishing them every 1-2 weeks maybe would take

them off very quickly?

 

Does anyone of you have same experiences with instruments in hot, salty air? Are there some cleaning products on the market, to protect my Epiphone from corrosion?

 

I'm afraid about experimenting with products from the local DIY store, because I'm afraid to harm my guitar more than I'd help.

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I'm in cerntral mass RH right now is in the 20s,, so no, no real experience in your clim.

 

0000 steel wool on the frets, that'll be fine.. get blue painters tape, cover the pickups completely and mask the entire fretboard between the frets. After you're done, oil/treat the fretboard. (F1 oil, or Guitar Honey are 2 good conditioners.) if you have a 2 inch clean paint brush, use that to dust off the remnents of the polishing job before removing the tape on the pickups.

 

Switch probably needs some cleaner, then again, epi switches still are not "awesome".. consider a replacement.

 

Are you keeping this in the case when you're not using it?

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Sebastian, I live on the east side of the Big Island of Hawaii facing the Pacific Ocean. First of all you need to create a dry space to keep your guitar, like a closet or even fabric over it using a small electric dehumidifier to keep the air around your guitar dry. I have 8 guitars in a rack covered by a large scarf or pareo wrap (my girlfriends) with the dehumidifier supplying dry air under it. In my environment I have to clean or wipe down all of my guitars every couple of days making sure condensation doesn't build up and watch for rusty strings. Also if you use a case it needs to be really dry inside or it will lock in the humidity with your guitar. On sunny days I open my cases to the sun and dry them out..

 

Your guitar needs to be kept as dry as possible and clean the switch and frets like Kidblast said, or you will just keep having trouble.

 

Also you can place humidity absorbing packets inside the F holes, but remember to replace them with new ones every so often.

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I'm in cerntral mass RH right now is in the 20s,, so no, no real experience in your clim.

 

0000 steel wool on the frets, that'll be fine.. get blue painters tape, cover the pickups completely and mask the entire fretboard between the frets. After you're done, oil/treat the fretboard. (F1 oil, or Guitar Honey are 2 good conditioners.) if you have a 2 inch clean paint brush, use that to dust off the remnents of the polishing job before removing the tape on the pickups.

 

Switch probably needs some cleaner, then again, epi switches still are not "awesome".. consider a replacement.

 

Are you keeping this in the case when you're not using it?

 

I was afraid about polishing because I'd need to do that frequently and every polish will take off material, I think. For the fretboard, I use lemon oil at the moment. And I think you're right. I had the same discussion with a luthier from my home contries guitar shop and I'm thinking about to get me a new toggle switch with gold contacts when I'm back in europe for the next time. Cleaning the switch on ES guitars is not so easy because there's no cabinet like the Les Pauls have.

 

 

Your guitar needs to be kept as dry as possible and clean the switch and frets like Kidblast said, or you will just keep having trouble.

 

Also you can place humidity absorbing packets inside the F holes, but remember to replace them with new ones every so often.

 

I keep my guitar in a soft case overnights (other brand, but like the new one from Gibson), maybe I should stuff the free space of the case with rice or silicon bags? And I run my a/c 24/7 (25*C, 77*F), I think that should dehumify a little too?

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I'm in cerntral mass RH right now is in the 20s,, so no, no real experience in your clim.

 

0000 steel wool on the frets, that'll be fine.. get blue painters tape, cover the pickups completely and mask the entire fretboard between the frets. After you're done, oil/treat the fretboard. (F1 oil, or Guitar Honey are 2 good conditioners.) if you have a 2 inch clean paint brush, use that to dust off the remnents of the polishing job before removing the tape on the pickups.

 

Switch probably needs some cleaner, then again, epi switches still are not "awesome".. consider a replacement.

 

Are you keeping this in the case when you're not using it?

 

 

Very good idea , and don' t forget the magnets ...

 

[biggrin] [biggrin] [biggrin] [biggrin] [biggrin]

 

steel wool is perfect for rust ...

 

Very good idea ...

 

[biggrin] [biggrin] [biggrin]

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I keep my guitar in a soft case overnights (other brand, but like the new one from Gibson), maybe I should stuff the free space of the case with rice or silicon bags?

 

The inside of your soft case needs to be completely dry or it will speed up corrosion.. Best thing is make sure the case is totally dry before you use it or don't use it. rice or silicon packs will help maintain it..

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I was afraid about polishing because I'd need to do that frequently and every polish will take off material, I think. For the fretboard, I use lemon oil at the moment. And I think you're right. I had the same discussion with a luthier from my home contries guitar shop and I'm thinking about to get me a new toggle switch with gold contacts when I'm back in europe for the next time. Cleaning the switch on ES guitars is not so easy because there's no cabinet like the Les Pauls have.

 

You would have to use A LOT of 0000 steel wool to take enough material off the fretboard to ever even matter. Just a few swipes across the frets should do what you need.

 

Any spirit is ok as long as it's as pure as possible. Some of the off the shelf household agents have alcohol and other things in there. f you can stick with a spirit that is sold for instrument care, you're pretty safe.

 

 

Are you casing this when not using, or are you keeping it out in your living area?

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You would have to use A LOT of 0000 steel wool to take enough material off the fretboard to ever even matter. Just a few swipes across the frets should do what you need.

 

Any spirit is ok as long as it's as pure as possible. Some of the off the shelf household agents have alcohol and other things in there. f you can stick with a spirit that is sold for instrument care, you're pretty safe.

 

 

Are you casing this when not using, or are you keeping it out in your living area?

 

Yes, taking it out of the case, play, put it back. I was meanwhile a couple of times told that normal polishing won't harm within the rest of my lifetime. I only wanted to be sure before starting to do something what would over the time make it worth.

I was maybe a little shocked. When I was young I bought my first Hohner Les Paul copy and had it for almost 20 years, without that it ever had shown that amount of corrosion. But that was in Germany, not in Brazil.

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