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Topic: Treatment for Oxidation |
Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
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Posted 1 Jul 2024 4:16 am |
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Looking for your advice and experience.
5+ years of playing outdoors in the summer in Florida has taken its toll on me and my guitar. More specifically, my sweaty palm has spent significant time resting on the changer of my single neck guitar. It has now worn away the nice shiny finish at that spot and I’m even seeing the small beginnings of rust.
I’ve searched the Forum and I’ve seen references to Mother’s, Simichrome , California Custom, etc. with all their pros and cons. So is there a best way to remediate the problem and seal it so it doesn’t happen again? I have a couple more years of playing in me (I hope) and that means more summertime outdoor gigs (I think). I shouldn’t have let this problem happen in the first place and I don’t want to repeat it. Thanks. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 1 Jul 2024 8:24 pm
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Any of the products you mentioned will work, as long as there's no deep pitting in the metal surface. Polishing can be done by hand, but is far easier and faster with a felt wheel on a Dremel or drill. Note that you should NOT let the polish get into the area between the fingers, as this can cause rapid wear and the dreaded "black stuff" that results when any metal is polished.
You can clean the polished metal with a solvent and spray it with clear lacquer or polyethelene to protect it, but it takes some experience to "flow" the spray properly so you don't get runs or a frosted look to the finish. |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 2 Jul 2024 7:29 am
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As Donny said, spraying with clear lacquer will keep it from tarnishing. In the late 70's early 80's, I was a scheduler at a metal finishing company. One of our customers made products for dental offices. One was a 6" aluminum tube about 3' long. My building polished them to a mirror finish. Then we moved them 1 street over to our other plant and the paint shop sprayed them with some kind of lacquer or urethane type coating (can't remember what exactly it was.
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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting. |
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Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
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Posted 2 Jul 2024 8:04 am
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| Thanks, guys. Can I apply the lacquer or polyethylene with a brush? I know I'll spray it all over the changer & screw up the fingers... |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 2 Jul 2024 1:16 pm
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| Frank Freniere wrote: |
| Thanks, guys. Can I apply the lacquer or polyethylene with a brush? I know I'll spray it all over the changer & screw up the fingers... |
Take some painters tape and mask off areas you don't want sprayed. I wouldn't brush it on for fear of brush streaks. But, just keeping them polished regularly should be sufficient.
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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting. |
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Bobby D. Jones
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 2 Jul 2024 2:01 pm
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keep it polished and a good coat of wax after polishing, Will last a week or two.
Aluminum and sweat will make the nasty Black Goo.
I made an aluminum bar for a friend and had it chromed plated. After a few weeks of playing in hot weather, The bar started oozing Black Goo, Through the pores in the chrome coating. He had not kept the chrome sealed with a coat of wax. |
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Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
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Posted 2 Jul 2024 2:15 pm
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| Bobby D. Jones wrote: |
keep it polished and a good coat of wax after polishing, Will last a week or two.
Aluminum and sweat will make the nasty Black Goo.
I made an aluminum bar for a friend and had it chromed plated. After a few weeks of playing in hot weather, The bar started oozing Black Goo, Through the pores in the chrome coating. He had not kept the chrome sealed with a coat of wax. |
So I’m in for regular weekly waxings for the rest of my life, sorta like the statins and the FloMax? 🙂 |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 3 Jul 2024 3:54 pm
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| Frank Freniere wrote: |
So I’m in for regular weekly waxings for the rest of my life........? 🙂 |
Can't say for sure, but I've heard all them Hollywood Starlets do it! 
But seriously, just get some mineral oil (mineral oil has no odor or color) at the drugstore, and pour a little on a cotton rag. It's not necessary to soak the rag or even make it feel oily, just a couple of teaspoons on a 12"x12" rag will do. Then, each day or night after you're done playing, just wipe the metal you want to protect, (including the strings, if you like) with the rag. Keep the rag in a sandwich baggie or small plastic box. I used to use WD-40 for this, but the smell was kind of a turn off. That's why I switched to mineral oil. |
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Bobby D. Jones
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 3 Jul 2024 7:13 pm
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| I have a piece of sheep wool skin I carry all the time, With 2 or 3 drops of oil every once in a while, Cleans strings great and leaves just enough oil to prevent corrosion and rust. |
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Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
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Posted 4 Jul 2024 5:37 am
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Thanks again, guys - every little bit helps!
Next stop: the hardware store.
I’ll try to do a before/after pic. |
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