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Frets slightly beginning to rust and pickups, bridge and tail piece have tarnished

nikhilsanju

New member
Joined
Jul 23, 2018
Messages
24
Dear friends, my Les Paul is about 2 years old now. The pickups, bridge and tailpiece have tarnished. They were shining initially when I bought my guitar. I store my guitar in a Gator Les Paul case. The frets are slowly beginning to collect rust. Is there anyway I can remove this rust? Will the Jim Dunlop 65 Ultimate Lemon Oil help to remove this rust?

I tried using some 00 steel wool to clean some frets but I'm afraid I might chip away the frets. I really don't want to damage the guitar in anyway. Also, is there any way to remove the oxidation or tarnish on the pups, bridge and tail piece? If I don't clean them, will it affect the guitar in anyway?

Please share with me your kind thoughts and ideas. Thanks very much in advance!
 

Arch D. Bunker

Active member
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
255
You know what - did the fret polish/board oil routine for years, since I have a heap of guitars on which frets may sometimes oxidate due to them not being played for a longer time.

A lot of hassle - taping off the fretboard, taking care that no steel wool particles attach to the pickups etc. Plus polishing frets is IMO not a good idea anyway.

I stopped doing this a few years ago and have since been using Gorgomyte for both tasks. It's a soft piece of cloth lightly impregnated with some waxy stuff, which cleans both fretboard and frets. I even use it to revive oxidated strings and on pickup covers. Quick and easy, and a great playing feel afterwards.

http://www.gorgomyte.com/index.html

Still have my ages old bottle of Fret Doctor - great stuff, but oiling the board is no longer necessary on most guitars now.
 

El Gringo

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Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,657
How strange and bizarre . I have been playing for over 45 years and have never encountered this with any of my Gibson's or Fenders . I also humidify my home with 2 humidifiers running non stop , and in the summer it gets pretty hot and humid where I live and never have any frets been tarnished ,or any hardware .
 

Wallaby

New member
Joined
Dec 14, 2019
Messages
12
I have seen tarnish, but haven't worried about it too much.

I have never seen actual rust, that is amazing to me.
 

PaulD

Active member
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
673
The majority of frets are made from nickel silver which is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc (despite it's name it doesn't actually contain any silver). This is a non-ferrous metal and does not rust, only ferrous metals (iron and steel) will rust, it can tarnish but nickel silver is fairly good at resisting corrosion and the worst that usually happens to it is the surface dulls somewhat. There are some frets made from stainless steel which could theoretically rust but stainless steel is also a good resistor of corrosion and it would have to be a fairly harsh environment (think high humidity and salt water) for stainless steel to rust. I think it is probably likely that what the OP is seeing is not actually rust but some other sort of contamination that possibly looks like rust, can't immediately think what it might be though!
 
Last edited:

rick c

Active member
Joined
May 28, 2016
Messages
282
Some people have much more acidic sweat than others; I had a friend who had to change strings frequently as they'd pretty much start turning black after only a few days of playing. All my guitars look great but I keep them clean and take an extra effort if they are going into a case for any length of time. Much of the gold has rubbed off my LPC pups but otherwise the components are OK. I've never experience tarnishing of any kind on my frets and I've owned my LP since 87.
 

Don

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 1, 2001
Messages
5,732
Frets don't rust, but the oxidization and contaminates can sometimes be sort of rust colored. I use Gorgomyte between string changes to keep frets looking good.
 

GeraintGuitar

Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
115
I am a very sweaty player , i HAVE to wipe down and clean my guitars as soon as i can affter gigs ,because if thier left for more than 2 days then i run into rust problems .
As for guitars stored at home in cases or on stands they need to cleaned every couple of weeks or i get mildew problems because my old victorian home suffers from humity , condensation and damp problems, ive recently invested in a de humidifier which helps A LOT
 

Big Al

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
14,537
Clean the poor thing and learn some basic maintenance.
 

gavindale

Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2001
Messages
446
Every time that I change strings I polish my frets with 0000 steel wool. You can buy metal fretboard protectors or go to anyplace that does laminations (Staples..any print store) and have them run a piece of lamination through the heater with NO paper. Take it home, cut off a rectangle wider that you neck and then cut a slot to match your widest fret. Here is a super cheap fretboard protector that you can see through and will stand up to tons of string changes. You don't have to do a full tape job just to clean your frets. Every guitar that I have ever worked on, including ones right out of the box, get tarnished from sweat or just from sitting in a case for a while. I do not want to use anything on my fretboard beyond fretboard oil so I use the protector. When you restring after this bendiing will feel much easier and smoother. And no you won't have to have your guitar refretted every six months because of this practice. I have done it for 30 years on all of my guitars. If they need refretting it is because I play them and not because I take care of them. Try it!

(you do have some common sense...right? don't use a freaking grinder)
 

Coachmoe

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2002
Messages
1,139
It sounds like you may have nickel hardware and it is naturally aging. That’s not a big deal. As far as your frets, you would be better off to get some of these: https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-too...nishing-papers/micro-mesh-touch-up-stick.html

I would get 6 of them, that should last you a few years. One side has two different grits, I use them to clean up my frets , especially if the have some wear spots. The back side is 12000 grit and I use that to polish the frets. These sticks work great for me. Others here may have other opinions but I’ve been at this 50 plus years. I used to use #0000 steel wool but it’s way too messy. Try the sticks . 😉😉😉
 
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