Got any tips to keep corrosion away?

Hairmail

Hairmail

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I've had my Charvel for almost two years now and the Ibanez for four, and on both these guitars there are signs of corrosion, pretty heavy on the Ibanez. The environment here(very hot and very humid) in combination with my sweat, which is very acidic, has made my guitars rust pretty badly, particularly on the Floyds. My strings rust very quickly too.

I normally wipe my guitars and strings down after practicing but apart from that there's not much I think I can do. I can even see rust on the polepieces of my pickups, and its only been two years.


So....got any tips on protecting guitars from rust?
 
Re: Got any tips to keep corrosion away?

Aim for stainless steel and aluminum parts as they tend to oxidize less usually . . . but other than that . . . you just have to deal with it. If it really starts to piss you off, sell the rusted parts on ebay as 'reliced' and buy new ones with the proceeds. Crazy people will pay good money for that crap.
 
Re: Got any tips to keep corrosion away?

How about some massive Silica Gel packs in your guitar cases? (And a good wipedown, post play)
 
Re: Got any tips to keep corrosion away?

Wiping after each play is the best thing you can do. Some people have more acidic sweat than others, so there is so much else you can do. Or you may live in more humid of a climate. (But Im in north FL and its real humid here) I usually dont get much corrosion, but when I buy a used guitar that has it, Ill take the corroded screws and parts and clean them up, soak them in some wd40 or household oil to try to inhibit the rust.. If you have a FLoyd, to can replace many of the screws and stuff with stainless steel parts or get brass fine tune knobs.
 
Re: Got any tips to keep corrosion away?

I'm not sure if you can but replacement hardware for those particular guitars, but that's what I do for my strat and Gibson products, for which replacement hardware is cheap and easy to come by.

As for frets, an easy way to make them sparkle with nearly no hassle is get microfiber pads, ranging in grit from 4000 to 12000, and just rub them down. It's too fine a grit to take off a meaningful amount of metal, but fine enough to make it shine almost instantly. If you get the stiff backed microfiber pads you can run it along the tops of the frets and clear the fret board wood with no extra effort.
 
Re: Got any tips to keep corrosion away?

at the shop we have some electrical lubricant/moisture repellent we put on wiring in corrosive enviroments

I dont know of a source outside industrial chemical suppliers that stock such things

but tools used in these areas rust almost immediately
I always spray and wipe down anything I use there

works well the only caveat is that rusted areas turn black when treated
 
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