Please Help! I ruined my finish?

[Ramrodrowdyyates]

Well...

Some here will disagree, but Lemon Pledge works wonders.

Philco - Naptha = cigarette lighter fluid, but PLEASE don't anybody confuse that with Charcoal lighter fluid. They're a bit different. Only Epiphones should get Charcoal lighter fluid poured on them!!!
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(I'm only kidding!!!! It was just too good to pass up. I almost used PRS's but I'm trying to be nice to them this week)

 

[Cogswell]

This just might be possible:

Consider this: It's an '82, you just bought it; I'm not trying to besmirch the character of the seller, but it's possible that the guitar was worn in that area (from dirt, sweat, & oils) but the seller used some kind of Armor-all or other oily type of stuff to make it shiny (household furniture polish comes to mind...bad in the long run. Too much buildup). When you polished it with the Ernie Ball stuff, it cleaned off all the residual oils that were keeping the guitar shiny on that spot.

 

[1959burst]

clean it, then rub a little rottenstone to buff it right out! it works for me, for lighter clouds i use a good two step rubbing compound and wax.

 

[marlon1211]

I just got my first lester paulster, an '82 wine red deluxe.

I've been playing it all night, and I was finishing up so I grabbed my ernie ball guitar polish to shine 'er up. When I was about done I noticed a 6x2 inch cloudy patch in the finish right on the very bottom of the guitar, like the bottom if it were sitting in a stand or hanging on the wall, so it's really on the maple top, on the bottom of the guitar, north of the binding directly under the bridge, if the neck is perpindicular to the ground. There is a patch right next to the binding where the finish is all cloudy, no longer shiny and mirror like. I'm positive i wasn't there before and I can't polish it out with water, guitar polish, dry, or a mixture of water/vinegar (I'm testing small patches so as to not make it worse). Strangely, this is the only place this patch showed up after polishing the whole top, back, neck....

WTF? Has anyone seen this before? Could this be the plastic binding causing some reaction with the polish, and then smeared all over the top?

Any ideas on how to get this out, or am I just screwed for using the wrong polish?

Agonizing,

I have the same issue on my PRS SII. Any idea how to take care of this? I believe mine is moisture under clear coat.
Someone say use Heat gun. Did you ever try this method?

 

[Born Late '58]

I sometimes get the slight milky patch under where my sweaty forearm has been. I think as Wilko says, it's just a little moisture in the laquer. I find it comes out with a light application of Gibson Pump Polish. Follow the instructions, i.e. shake the bottle well then spray onto a clean, soft cotton cloth (not direct on the guitar 'cos that doesn't work). Rub slowly but firmly on the milky area, then polish gently with a dry cloth.

I stopped by California Vintage Guitars one day and the Gibson truck happened to be there. I got into a fairly lengthy discussion about guitar polishes, and the guy turned me onto the fact that the Gibson pump polish, consisting as it does of petrochemicals that are similar to the chemicals found in the finish itself, will, if sprayed directly onto the finish and left for some moments (a minute or two), interact with the finish in such a way as to almost re-activate the original finish, thus allowing much of what has built up there to be removed effectively. In any case, that was his claim.

I have since used this method on all my guitars (including my Martins), and have found it to be a very effective means or rejuvenating a guitar's lacquer finish.

No idea whether it will help in this case or not though....

 

[Les'isMorePaul]

This happened to my father's Martin once.
I found out that he used to use lemon pledge to clean it.

Well, I used guitar polish and they didn't react well.

If this was a used guitar, you may want to see what the last owner used, if you can.

 

[Cogswell]

1. I don't think a heat gun is a good idea. Guys use them to strip the finish off of guitars.
2. I doubt that Gibson polish melts or reactivates the finish. That would cause debris to move into the lacquer.

 

[Ryan Givhan]

just dont clean your guitar! it earned all that dirt and grime!

 

[latestarter]

You "can" use a heat gun, but for the big guys sake, you have to know what you're doing. It's a nano second between success and disaster.

Better to stick in the sunlight for an afternoon (the area) and see how that works instead.

 

[Kris Ford]

I stopped by California Vintage Guitars one day and the Gibson truck happened to be there. I got into a fairly lengthy discussion about guitar polishes, and the guy turned me onto the fact that the Gibson pump polish, consisting as it does of petrochemicals that are similar to the chemicals found in the finish itself, will, if sprayed directly onto the finish and left for some moments (a minute or two), interact with the finish in such a way as to almost re-activate the original finish, thus allowing much of what has built up there to be removed effectively. In any case, that was his claim.

I have since used this method on all my guitars (including my Martins), and have found it to be a very effective means or rejuvenating a guitar's lacquer finish.

No idea whether it will help in this case or not though....

I've always heard that the Gibson pump polish has "trace amounts of lacquer"..so that may be true..I would definitely use it, but I first use Virtuoso Cleaner and follow that with the Virtuoso Polish,(which I'm really starting to think that the Virtuoso is rebranded/rebottled Meguiars automotive finish stuff...) then buff the polish out with the Gibson pump polish..works everytime for me!
Plus I LOVE the way it smells!!:XRE

 

[BURSTGANG]

Try this............I use "Zymol" Cleaner/Wax now on all my guitars. Its the best I have used and I have used just about everything you can think of..............the list is very long to be sure. You will find members here that swear it works great. I recently bought a old 1979 Hamer Sunburst in the original Black finish and it had a ton of crap[Mildew,Sweat etc.......Nasty!] on the finish as well as some fogging on the back.......... a very small area to be sure but when I used Zymol C/W on it it went completely away. The rest of the guitars black finish now shines like glass. The Hamer Sunburst BEFORE

...........and AFTER.

and Yes that IS moisture trapped in the finish.

 

[JDPS150]

HOLY COW!
It turned your knobs black too!

 

[shred]

You guys are aware this is a necro-post from '02 right? :wah

 

[rob livesey]

I had this happen on my '67 335, very soon after I bought it a while back.

I thought I'd give it a good clean and polish, so out came the standard polish and cloth, sprayed the guitar and began buffing. What happened was that instead of the guitar becoming shiny, it got cloudier and cloudier, and the more I tried, the worse it got, it looked terrible.

I got onto Charlie Gelber of OK Guitars and vintage 335 fame and he recommended Virtuoso Guitar Cleaner & Polish, which I duly bought.

It comes in two bottles, first the cleaner and then the polish. Charlie said he hardly uses the polish, just the cleaner.

Anyway, this stuff is amazing, after a good work in of the cleaner I buffed it off and the results were dramatic. All the clouding had vanished, the guitar had a really high gloss transparent finish again and any trace of stickyness had gone too and the guitar finish just felt harder.

It's the only stuff I use now and I recommended it to my friends and have even had them bring over their guitars for a little clean with this stuff. They always go away very happy.

Rob.

 

[BURSTGANG]

HOLY COW!
It turned your knobs black too!
YES such is the power of ZYMOL! ; ) actually those are the original knobs back on the guitar In the 2d photo.All kidding aside that product[ZYMOL C/W] IS the best I have ever used. Amazing stuff and it smells great also. : )

 

[tdarian]

I wonder what ever happened to the spot? He sure was a stubborn little bugger....

 

[JDPS150]

You guys are aware this is a necro-post from '02 right? :wah

yep

 

[Ryan Givhan]

a happy virtuoso customer here. but i very rarely clean my guitars.

 

[Black58]

Unless I puked on one, it doesn't get cleaned.