Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The grime beneath

If you are meticulous with the wiping down of your instrument after each play, in your spare time, do attend to the unseen gunk beneath the string saddles. The guitar above is my Fender ST-72. I've been fastidious in taking care of the guitar's exterior oblivious to the fact that whatever's wiped away would be driven into the cracks & crevices so the filthy accumulation would be inevitable.

This is the same bridge base plate after an enthusiastic cleaning & polishing episode. Do note that if the slime continues to inhibit the hardware, rusting & slime build up (that unsightly green coating, not seen here of course) would occur.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Things you'll find beneath - dust, lints, pick flakes, sweat, blood and years of memories...

Fitch

ashley said...

Bro Sub, how do you clean the back of your neck (guitar neck,not yours :P)?
I noticed my neck gets a lil' sticky after hours of playing...

subversion.sg said...

for both gloss (eg: Gibson, ESP, etc) & satin finished guitars (Fender, Ibanez, etc.) i simply wipe them down with dry cloth after play. before i keep the guitars in their hard cases/ bags, i use regular guitar polish for another wipe down, that's it :-)

Anonymous said...

and what do you use to clean the bridge plate?

subversion.sg said...

2 ingredients:

1. Dr. Duck Ax Wax
2. Metal polish

the duck's responsible in dislodging the dirt. i ran out of string cleaning fluid, usually this would be the first resort as it is spirit-based. alcohol is best used to dislodge dirt (it's aneffective solvent, so i found out. the metal polish ensures there's shine thereafter. the final step would be a wipe down with a clean, dry cloth.

if you are using metal poish, i had a negative experience with the cream type as this would lodge itself in cracks & gaps without drying up. over time, it'd turn green together with the dirt & grime so i see this as a futile exercise. i stick to the fluid type.

Anonymous said...

hey dub may i know where you got your ST72?

Anonymous said...

sorry typo Sub*

subversion.sg said...

ST-72: got mine from Davis GMC :-)