Rusty Greco

[GooCart]

Hi from Sweden,
I have this Greco super real TV junior, a great guitar with lots of attitude. Just one issue. The strings are covered with rust after a couple of weeks, even if I don't touch the guitar. I've tried a lot of brands, even those hi tech Elixir. I've cleaned and polished all metal hardware, but nothing seems to help. I've noticed that the tuners and the wrap around tail piece looks quite aged, I don't know if it's a faked or genuine aging, but they look very old and dull.
The guitar was sold in Japan and imported to Sweden for a couple of years ago, hence I suspect that the guitar has been exposed for some kind of environment contaminant but what do I know.

Any ideas?

[GooCart]

Can this be a local Northern Swedish phenomenon, is it really just me having this rusty string issue?

[jomo]

That's weird ma, is it close to a humidifier? Do you have any pictures??

[GooCart]

I post some low res photos from my crappy cell phone.
The area that seem to rust is over the pick guard, not on the neck.
If you wounder what pup there is, I work as an industrial designer and we have a 3d printer so I printed a p90 shaped cover for a old duncan humbucker, works great, but look at the screws, pure rust.

[barburny]

Silly question maybe but do you wipe your strings off after playing
Im not calling you a sweat bucket be you would be suprised how much sweat we can put on your strings
you could also try rubbing your bridge with a very fine wire wool to remove the rust thats on them in case it is speading
other than that make sure you leave it for 30 mins or so before playing it if it come out of the case in to different temps but hey thats text book stuff

[alexvdl]

I'd gladly buy a new tailpiece and studs for ya if I can get yours

It looks awesome!!

[VastHorizon]

I've had a Greco Les Paul before. It weighs a ton (I hated it) and it also rusts, but not like that. I left it out of the case for a year. I guess your hardware has not enough zinc/aluminum coating which will prevent it from rusting.

[nwobhm]

Most but, not all TP's are usually made of zinc or aluminum either nickel or chrome plated. I don't get what you mean by aluminum/zinc coating?

[VastHorizon]

Originally Posted by nwobhm

Most but, not all TP's are usually made of zinc or aluminum either nickel or chrome plated. I don't get what you mean by aluminum/zinc coating?

Most guitars are made from hardware that naturally oxidizes when exposed to extreme humidity. They tried to remedy it by using nickel or chrome plating. If the guitar is made in Asia, they try to remedy this, without using a lot of money, by coating the hardware with aluminum or zinc alloys. It's called galvanization. Now, if the zinc coating is not thick enough to withstand the effects of the environment of where the guitar was shipped to, voila! We have (oxidation) rust!

[nwobhm]

I've heard of galvanized steel , just never heard of galvanized hardware on guitars before. I can understand it though. Alot of my earlier Japan guitars, especially my Burnys usually flake and rust.

[VastHorizon]

DELETE

[VastHorizon]

Originally Posted by nwobhm

I've heard of galvanized steel , just never heard of galvanized hardware on guitars before. I can understand it though. Alot of my earlier Japan guitars, especially my Burnys usually flake and rust.

Well, some did it because of the rising production costs. Their guitars would sell more if they tried to keep the price stable even with inflation problems.

[GooCart]

I'm no metallurgist so I cant tell if it's galvanized or not. The metal looks like those cheap cowboy toy revolvers I used to play with as a kid.
The rust appears after one or two weeks after I change the strings, no matter if I use the guitar or not. As said earlier, I've cleaned the hardware, the frets and all plastic. The fingerboard is also clean. I've never seen this oxidation on a guitar before.
The plastic pickguard looks strange, kind of blotched and dull. It's so frail that you can break it apart.
Besides all of this, it's a great guitar, I've played it live at many times, but this rust issue is hard for me to swallow.

[VastHorizon]

You have a serious problem right there. What case are you using? The problem might be with the materials and reliability of the case that lets moisture and humidity inside so try another one. As for the pickguard, yeah, it really looks strange. It looks like the material used in some picks. And that really gets brittle with age. If you don't like the oxidation, change your hardware. If you want your guitar to be all original and don't want to change it, spray WD-40 on a cloth and wipe your hardware every now and then with it. Let it sit for a while and wipe it off with a clean cloth. WD-40 helps prevent oxidation and corrosion.

Hope this helps.

[GooCart]

For this guitar I use a brown les paul case, the case is in good condition so I doubt that thats the problem. Besides, the process is way to rapid for normal moisture oxidation.
The hardware looks cool and vintage, but my humble opinion is that it willl have to go.

[VastHorizon]

Originally Posted by GooCart

For this guitar I use a brown les paul case, the case is in good condition so I doubt that thats the problem. Besides, the process is way to rapid for normal moisture oxidation.
The hardware looks cool and vintage, but my humble opinion is that it willl have to go.

That would be better.

[GooCart]

I just looked at a WD-40 related site. It sound interesting so I think I'll try to get hold of a can and give it a try.

[alexvdl]

Originally Posted by GooCart

For this guitar I use a brown les paul case, the case is in good condition so I doubt that thats the problem. Besides, the process is way to rapid for normal moisture oxidation.
The hardware looks cool and vintage, but my humble opinion is that it willl have to go.

Like I said, I'll buy them from you. For the money you can buy a new shiny set

Just give me a PM.

[Dino]

Clean it up and maybe try keeping a few desiccant packs in your case to help absorb any moisture.

I'm just guessing.

[VastHorizon]

Originally Posted by GooCart

I just looked at a WD-40 related site. It sound interesting so I think I'll try to get hold of a can and give it a try.

It'll work.

[GooCart]

Originally Posted by alexvdl

Like I said, I'll buy them from you. For the money you can buy a new shiny set

Just give me a PM.

Seriously, you don't wont this. It'll ruin your guitar. It looks pretty cool, but this rust issue isn't funny at all.

But if you really, really want it, I'm in Orlando on a vacation from 27 October to 7 November, if you can arrange something I can bring the wrap around and the studs....

[alexvdl]

Originally Posted by GooCart

Seriously, you don't wont this. It'll ruin your guitar. It looks pretty cool, but this rust issue isn't funny at all.

But if you really, really want it, I'm in Orlando on a vacation from 27 October to 7 November, if you can arrange something I can bring the wrap around and the studs....

I really really want it I love that rusty look and besides, my guitar is already ruined LOL

I'm from the Netherlands, so it will be a long way to Orlando hehehe.

By the way, I sent you a private message.

[GooCart]

A PM, cool. Then I only need to know how to open the PM. So please, a small PM tutorial would be great.

[alexvdl]

On the top right of this page you see Welcome GooCart and below that in orange "Private messages". Click that and you're set... I hope

[VastHorizon]

Look at those two.

[GooCart]

yeah, yeah. Have fun at our behalf. You know, when we see something thats covered with rust here in Europe we get all exited, we're just not used to it. We drive BMW and Mercedes, not Chevy

oops, I just recalled, my wife drives a '08 Dodge Caliber and I used to drive a '81 Chevy C10 pickup and a '77 Blazer. But I would like to have a new beamer instead of the freaking Volvo V40 I'm driving now.

[alexvdl]

Hahaha

[VastHorizon]

Originally Posted by GooCart

yeah, yeah. Have fun at our behalf. You know, when we see something thats covered with rust here in Europe we get all exited, we're just not used to it. We drive BMW and Mercedes, not Chevy

oops, I just recalled, my wife drives a '08 Dodge Caliber and I used to drive a '81 Chevy C10 pickup and a '77 Blazer. But I would like to have a new beamer instead of the freaking Volvo V40 I'm driving now.

Dude! I LOVE Europe! Seriously, man! I have a classmate who's an exchange student. He comes from Germany and he'll be staying for only 5 months. Man, I always sit beside him in class and chat him up about the European culture! And he's crazy about it! Hahaha!

Then the conversation goes to cars. Bimmers, Porsches, Volkses... I could go on!

Then came women... And guitars...

[GooCart]

Now I've figured out what's wrong with the guitar. Its the pick guard. There are some reaction going on between the plastic and the metal that causes the rust.

A couple of old friends of me, they are actually twins, have one of Europe's largest guitar collection and they have experienced this to. In their case it was a '68 telecaster bass that got completely ruined by this chemical reaction. The bass was in the case for a long time so they didn't notice this and by the time they opened it the bass looked like something from a horror movie, all covered with rust and this green slime you see on a old battery. They completely freaked out, off course. This time it was a tele bass, it could just as easy have been one of their original burst's.

Summary: Be aware of this, if your pick guard is brittle and almost fall apart if you touch it, get rid of it and replace it.