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Started By
Message
Paging FretShack: How to clean guitar pickups/ restore a guitar.
Posted on 4/23/23 at 7:36 am
Posted on 4/23/23 at 7:36 am
Is this something I can do myself or should I bring my guitar somewhere?:
Finally pulled my old LesPaul out the case because my kids are finally old enough I can trust them around my guitar and have time to play it, and the actual pickups themselves have some rust on them. If it makes a difference, there’s an AlnicoProII in the neck and a PearlyGates in the bridge. Do I just remove the strings and buff with steel wool? Any tips or tricks or other things I should look at when cleaning up an old guitar? Someone on the Internet said to hit them with clear nail polish. I guess worst case scenario I’m buying replacement pickups from your custom shop.
I also need to replace the screws holding the pickup harnesses in and the ones on the pickguard. They’re all rusted. I guess I’ll get all stainless screws and not store it in a case anymore.
The bridge itself is also corroded it looks like I’ll have to replace that too.
Is all that something I can do myself without breaking anything?
Finally pulled my old LesPaul out the case because my kids are finally old enough I can trust them around my guitar and have time to play it, and the actual pickups themselves have some rust on them. If it makes a difference, there’s an AlnicoProII in the neck and a PearlyGates in the bridge. Do I just remove the strings and buff with steel wool? Any tips or tricks or other things I should look at when cleaning up an old guitar? Someone on the Internet said to hit them with clear nail polish. I guess worst case scenario I’m buying replacement pickups from your custom shop.
I also need to replace the screws holding the pickup harnesses in and the ones on the pickguard. They’re all rusted. I guess I’ll get all stainless screws and not store it in a case anymore.
The bridge itself is also corroded it looks like I’ll have to replace that too.
Is all that something I can do myself without breaking anything?
This post was edited on 4/23/23 at 7:48 am
3
Posted on 4/23/23 at 9:07 am to Richard Grayson
"Old Les Paul": You ever watch "Antiques Roadshow" and some guy cleaned the patina off his Civil War-era pistol and the expert informs its owner he successfully converted thousands of dollars in collectible value into useless residue in a rag?
That's what you're potentially playing with here. But it's your guitar and what you want is what matters, so if you insist on removing tarnishes and rusts and residues and whatever ...
Do not use steel wool on any piece of your guitar other than the frets, and make sure the fingerboard and the pickups are masked with painter's tape if you do so. Have a shop vac handy and use it frequently. Loose steel wool fiber with scratch things you didn't want abraded and get in places you didn't want it.
How to clean a fingerboard
Clean plastics and metals and painted surfaces with VM&P naphtha and an old cotton T-shirt. If you need a quart, buy it in the paint section at a home improvement store. If you only need a little, buy a little yellow bottle of old skool lighter fluid at a drug or convenience store.
"Polishing" ... I STRONGLY, STRONGLY advise you do not use any deep cream polishes for guitars, cars or otherwise, with any type of cutting agent in it. Gibson's soft and thin nitro finishes, especially their formulas from the 1970s and 1980s, cloud deeply and you will VERY, VERY LIKELY expose bare wood trying to remove cloudiness. Get a pro to do that work.
I respectfully decline most finish and hardware cosmetic repair/resto work, sorry.
Swapping hardware and screws is a breeze, there are YouTube tutorials to walk you through that. Stick with authentic Gibson parts to ensure everything looks and fits right and to at least keep it original manufacturer parts.
That's what you're potentially playing with here. But it's your guitar and what you want is what matters, so if you insist on removing tarnishes and rusts and residues and whatever ...
Do not use steel wool on any piece of your guitar other than the frets, and make sure the fingerboard and the pickups are masked with painter's tape if you do so. Have a shop vac handy and use it frequently. Loose steel wool fiber with scratch things you didn't want abraded and get in places you didn't want it.
How to clean a fingerboard
Clean plastics and metals and painted surfaces with VM&P naphtha and an old cotton T-shirt. If you need a quart, buy it in the paint section at a home improvement store. If you only need a little, buy a little yellow bottle of old skool lighter fluid at a drug or convenience store.
"Polishing" ... I STRONGLY, STRONGLY advise you do not use any deep cream polishes for guitars, cars or otherwise, with any type of cutting agent in it. Gibson's soft and thin nitro finishes, especially their formulas from the 1970s and 1980s, cloud deeply and you will VERY, VERY LIKELY expose bare wood trying to remove cloudiness. Get a pro to do that work.
I respectfully decline most finish and hardware cosmetic repair/resto work, sorry.
Swapping hardware and screws is a breeze, there are YouTube tutorials to walk you through that. Stick with authentic Gibson parts to ensure everything looks and fits right and to at least keep it original manufacturer parts.
Posted on 4/23/23 at 11:42 am to TheFretShack
quote:
Stick with authentic Gibson parts to ensure everything looks and fits right and to at least keep it original manufacturer parts.
Guitar parts factory stocks a lot of this OEM type stuff at a decent price, and it will be in your mailbox in about 3 days. I've used them quite a bit, and it's always the right stuff
.LINK
Posted on 4/24/23 at 5:30 am to Richard Grayson
You could try evaporust?
I’d test it with one of the screws you are trashing. See if you like what evaporust does with it. Or with the tailpiece? You made it sound like the tailpiece is scrap any way.
Take the PUPs out as it sounds like they need to come out any way to eval the undersides. That eliminates destroying your guitar body finish. Put a couple drops on and swirl them around with a Q-tip.
It WILL take off the rust. It also WILL give them a dull look. So if these have a polished high shine look??? IDK. But if they are their appearance is ruined anyway.
Also I don’t know what all is involved in taking the covers off and re-covering them. If that’s easy then you can take the covers off and go to town on them in another room. There you could dremel the bastards and not worry about flakes getting anywhere.
Then… Price check Frets pickups. You said they were replacements anyway.
I’d test it with one of the screws you are trashing. See if you like what evaporust does with it. Or with the tailpiece? You made it sound like the tailpiece is scrap any way.
Take the PUPs out as it sounds like they need to come out any way to eval the undersides. That eliminates destroying your guitar body finish. Put a couple drops on and swirl them around with a Q-tip.
It WILL take off the rust. It also WILL give them a dull look. So if these have a polished high shine look??? IDK. But if they are their appearance is ruined anyway.
Also I don’t know what all is involved in taking the covers off and re-covering them. If that’s easy then you can take the covers off and go to town on them in another room. There you could dremel the bastards and not worry about flakes getting anywhere.
Then… Price check Frets pickups. You said they were replacements anyway.
Posted on 4/24/23 at 6:00 am to Richard Grayson
richard,
here's an idea: take your guitar to the fretshack and get it worked on there
here's an idea: take your guitar to the fretshack and get it worked on there
Posted on 4/24/23 at 7:05 am to monsterballads
quote:
here's an idea: take your guitar to the fretshack and get it worked on there
He’s paged more than Batman around here. Give the man some paying business.
Posted on 4/24/23 at 12:20 pm to TheFretShack
Keep it all original. People pay Murphy Lab a lot of money to get that patina.
Like FS said, stay away from steel wool. The magnets in your pickups may attract steel residue.
Like FS said, stay away from steel wool. The magnets in your pickups may attract steel residue.
Posted on 4/24/23 at 12:25 pm to monsterballads
Here's what fretshack will say: I respectfully decline most finish and hardware cosmetic repair/resto work, sorry.
I must be a mind reader.
I must be a mind reader.
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