Help with Rusty Situation

[fronobulax]

If it had not been for @GAD's presence I would have been all over this thread because we can be nicer than we were. And we don't have to defensive when we screw up. If anyone thinks differently consider what direction this might have taken if the second post had not included these five words.

you deserve what you got.

 

[Guildedagain]

I'm not sure I'd use anything inside the tuner bores in the peghead, as the wood shouldn't hang on to the smell so much, but you could use the baking soda paste on a toothbrush, wipe it off. Baking soda is real easy to work with.

Possibly light use of an essential oil in places like tuner bores, pickup cavities? I use incense therapy - Nag Champa - on guitars and cases that smell like drier sheets, can't handle that smell, it's made me sell some guitars.

I actually like the smell of musty old guitars/cases, much prefer it to some "fragrance" grown in a lab.

Yes, the handle/hardware rust points to a ferrous metal, mild steel probably.

Gorgomyte leaves a nice finish on "raw wood" the fingerboard, I don't oil it afterwards, but F1 Bore oil is fairly highly recommended for fingerboards, has a strong smell you might like that should help cover other smells.

They claim it's 100% natural, just oils from trees, but it smells real "pretty", but somehow not so gross that I don't mind getting it all over my fingers working it into the board, wipes off nicely, leaves no residue, and the smell does fade away like something natural.

I wouldn't put any oil in the tuner bores, except maybe a touch of 100% pure essential oil - no carrier oil - on a Q tip, as excess oil in that area is reputed to possibly rot the wood, or make it soft or something.

 

[geoguy]

Sorry for your troubles . . .

I would refrain from using Brasso. It might remove more of the plating than you expect.

Gorgomyte on the frets/fretboard, & a good cleaner on the guitar body (Virtuoso makes nice products) can't hurt, and might leave a pleasant scent.

A jewelry-cleaning website suggests using equal parts water + vinegar to neutralize "funky metallic odors" (apparently that happens to costume jewelry, too). If I were going to try that, I would probably leave tuners, etc. mounted on the guitar & gently wipe the metal bits with a soft cloth that was lightly dampened with the water/vinegar solution. Air-dry the guitar thoroughly before putting it back in its case.

And let us know how this situation works out for you.

 

[lungimsam]

This reminds me of the smell when opening a decades old tool box.

 

[Guildedagain]

Does brasso remove plating?

I haven't seen it, but then again, I wouldn't use it on a guitar unless something was seriously neglected.

Chrome plating you'd have to work at for years to rub off with brasso, I used it on may an old bumper back in the day.

My main use for it is polishing old acrylic watch crystals, and even at that you have to work you hind end off to remove scratches.


Nickel plating would surely stand up to some polish. I'm not one to polish nickel, I like the gray look, but I haven't seen too many old Gibson parts with the nickel gone, usually just fine and aged.

My old Guitar Repair Guide by Ritchie Flieger showed using baking soda on a toothbrush to clean an ABR-1 bridge, washing and drying than using a polish. Actually a much better idea, and then you should apply some wax if you want to prevent corrosion, and use a soft cleaning cloth often to keep it from starting.

Nickel corrosion rarely turns gross, it takes decades. Unlike "Zinc pest" which will really eat some metal up.

 

[geoguy]

I don't know how much plating Brasso (or similar metal polishes) would remove, but it seems like she might only need to clean the metal objects & not actually polish them.

She could always go back & try something more aggressive later, if the water+vinegar solution doesn't adequately remove the garlic/sulfur odor.

I hope we hear the outcome, it is an interesting problem!

 

[Prince of Darkness]

Does brasso remove plating?

I haven't seen it, but then again, I wouldn't use it on a guitar unless something was seriously neglected.

Chrome plating you'd have to work at for years to rub off with brasso, I used it on may an old bumper back in the day.

My main use for it is polishing old acrylic watch crystals, and even at that you have to work you hind end off to remove scratches.


Nickel plating would surely stand up to some polish. I'm not one to polish nickel, I like the gray look, but I haven't seen too many old Gibson parts with the nickel gone, usually just fine and aged.

My old Guitar Repair Guide by Ritchie Flieger showed using baking soda on a toothbrush to clean an ABR-1 bridge, washing and drying than using a polish. Actually a much better idea, and then you should apply some wax if you want to prevent corrosion, and use a soft cleaning cloth often to keep it from starting.

Nickel corrosion rarely turns gross, it takes decades. Unlike "Zinc pest" which will really eat some metal up.

I do remember being told to be careful with using brasso on plating, as it contains a fine abrasive. The same company also makes Silvo, which is less abrasive, if at all. Brasso's formulation also varies between markets.

 

[Guildedagain]

Figures the USA stuff was weak ;]

I still have a tube of Simichrome left over from the BSA Matchless thumper days...

 

[polarizing]

So, update:

I used Gorgomyte on the frets (it took a long time to arrive), and... this nasty black grime came off the frets, and seemingly there is no end to it. I cut the cloth into fret sized pieces and used up all of it and still the black kept coming, so I’m guessing I’ll need like five more cloths. It had that bad smell... the fingerboard was fine tho, I’m really curious why the wood seems to be fine

 

[chazmo]

Looks like you're getting there. For one thing, you'll probably have to get the smell out of the case as well, so don't put the guitar back in there until you can clean the case and air it out for several days in direct sunlight...

Good luck, polarizing! Get some fingerboard oil (like bore oil or boiled linseed oil) to rub into the fretboard once you've got the frets cleaned.

If you have any pictures of the body of the guitar, please post them. You don't want to use any abrasives on your pickups or (or course) the body of the guitar unless you've got corrosion on the pickups that need polishing off.

 

[geoguy]

If the frets are shiny, you don't need to use Gorgomyte any more. The black stuff won't stop accumulating on the cloth.

Did you try the equal-parts water & vinegar mentioned above, on the metal objects that smell bad to you? I believe that either white vinegar or cider vinegar will work.

The garlic/sulfur smell may be the result of a chemical reaction between the metal and something corrosive (e.g. acids in our skin), perhaps aggravated by the humid environment that your guitar was in for some time:

The Smell of Iron

Coins don't smell . . . we do!

 

[GAD]

So, update:

I used Gorgomyte on the frets (it took a long time to arrive), and... this nasty black grime came off the frets, and seemingly there is no end to it. I cut the cloth into fret sized pieces and used up all of it and still the black kept coming, so I’m guessing I’ll need like five more cloths. It had that bad smell... the fingerboard was fine tho, I’m really curious why the wood seems to be fine

The black is part grime and part a chemical reaction with the frets. In my experience you'll never get a black-free Gogomyte after polishing frets.