Any tips for removing tarnishing from.....

DavusPG · September 2023

Raw nickel pickup covers and an anodised aluminium pick guard, which is also brushed to make it extra difficult!

Serves me right for not wiping it down post sweaty gig, but any advice greatly received

nero1701 · September 2023

Any light polish should clean it, For the brushed effect, you can get Fibreglass pens(Used for rebrushing watch straps ect)

Kittyfrisk · September 2023

Wow, those pickup covers.
Are you perhaps an alien Xenomorph that sweats pure acid? @-)

inewham · September 2023

A fibreglass pencil is slightly abrasive so might take the anodising off the pick guard eventually. I cleaned my anodised pick guard with an antibacterial wipe (like a baby wipe without the oil)

** ignore this there is no copper **

Those green spots on the pickup covers might be copper plating underneath the nickel oxidising where there are pits in the nickel. You can clean it off but it will probably come back.

DavusPG · September 2023

Kittyfrisk said:

Wow, those pickup covers.
Are you perhaps an alien Xenomorph that sweats pure acid? @-)

Haha, perhaps....

DavusPG · September 2023

inewham said:

A fibreglass pencil is slightly abrasive so might take the anodising off the pick guard eventually. I cleaned my anodised pick guard with an antibacterial wipe (like a baby wipe without the oil)

Those green spots on the pickup covers might be copper plating underneath the nickel oxidising where there are pits in the nickel. You can clean it off but it will probably come back.

It's my 2nd guitar with raw nickel covers and I'm really not a fan. Were it not for the brushed pick guard I'd replace them with polished nickel.

Thanks for the tip re: the wipes

DavidR · September 2023

I have always use white vinegar to clean my metal resonator which is entirely chromed. White vinegar is cheap (and has the advantage that, if its no help to you, you can pop it in a spray bottle and use it on your weeds!)

:-)

How to Easily Remove Rust with Vinegar (thepipingmart.com)

OilCityPickups · September 2023

inewham said:

A fibreglass pencil is slightly abrasive so might take the anodising off the pick guard eventually. I cleaned my anodised pick guard with an antibacterial wipe (like a baby wipe without the oil)

Those green spots on the pickup covers might be copper plating underneath the nickel oxidising where there are pits in the nickel. You can clean it off but it will probably come back.

There is no copper under plating on a raw nickel cover - as the name suggests it's 'raw' so completely un-plated. :-)

inewham · September 2023

OilCityPickups said:

inewham said:

A fibreglass pencil is slightly abrasive so might take the anodising off the pick guard eventually. I cleaned my anodised pick guard with an antibacterial wipe (like a baby wipe without the oil)

Those green spots on the pickup covers might be copper plating underneath the nickel oxidising where there are pits in the nickel. You can clean it off but it will probably come back.

There is no copper under plating on a raw nickel cover - as the name suggests it's 'raw' so completely un-plated. :-)

Ah! Thanks for putting me straight, I based that idea on seeing old motorbike parts cooper plated before nickel plating, and getting similar green spots. Is it the nickel going green then?

OilCityPickups · September 2023

inewham said:

OilCityPickups said:

inewham said:

A fibreglass pencil is slightly abrasive so might take the anodising off the pick guard eventually. I cleaned my anodised pick guard with an antibacterial wipe (like a baby wipe without the oil)

Those green spots on the pickup covers might be copper plating underneath the nickel oxidising where there are pits in the nickel. You can clean it off but it will probably come back.

There is no copper under plating on a raw nickel cover - as the name suggests it's 'raw' so completely un-plated. :-)

Ah! Thanks for putting me straight, I based that idea on seeing old motorbike parts cooper plated before nickel plating, and getting similar green spots. Is it the nickel going green then?

Yep 'raw nickel' used to be known as 'German Silver' because of its colour. It's normally 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc - though the proportions can vary a bit. No covers ... or for that matter baseplates are ever made of pure nickel.

PS. As the material is one homogenous alloy all the way through with no plating ... you can lower the pole pieces a bit to help prevent them getting scuffed ... and use a Scotchbrite or Merlon pad to clean the pickup top in the direction of any 'brushing' .

Simples ... squeak.

elstoof · September 2023

“German silver” is what A Lange & Sohne use for the plates on their watch movements. It goes a lovely warm colour after a few years in its sealed case, will tarnish if you breath on it wrong

RaymondLin · September 2023

Try this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CNYOIBS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

DavusPG · September 2023

OilCityPickups said:

inewham said:

OilCityPickups said:

inewham said:

A fibreglass pencil is slightly abrasive so might take the anodising off the pick guard eventually. I cleaned my anodised pick guard with an antibacterial wipe (like a baby wipe without the oil)

Those green spots on the pickup covers might be copper plating underneath the nickel oxidising where there are pits in the nickel. You can clean it off but it will probably come back.

There is no copper under plating on a raw nickel cover - as the name suggests it's 'raw' so completely un-plated. :-)

Ah! Thanks for putting me straight, I based that idea on seeing old motorbike parts cooper plated before nickel plating, and getting similar green spots. Is it the nickel going green then?

Yep 'raw nickel' used to be known as 'German Silver' because of its colour. It's normally 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc - though the proportions can vary a bit. No covers ... or for that matter baseplates are ever made of pure nickel.

PS. As the material is one homogenous alloy all the way through with no plating ... you can lower the pole pieces a bit to help prevent them getting scuffed ... and use a Scotchbrite or Merlon pad to clean the pickup top in the direction of any 'brushing' .

Simples ... squeak.

Thank you, I'll defo give that a go

What about the scratch plate, same thing?

OilCityPickups · September 2023

DavusPG said:

OilCityPickups said:

inewham said:

OilCityPickups said:

inewham said:

A fibreglass pencil is slightly abrasive so might take the anodising off the pick guard eventually. I cleaned my anodised pick guard with an antibacterial wipe (like a baby wipe without the oil)

Those green spots on the pickup covers might be copper plating underneath the nickel oxidising where there are pits in the nickel. You can clean it off but it will probably come back.

There is no copper under plating on a raw nickel cover - as the name suggests it's 'raw' so completely un-plated. :-)

Ah! Thanks for putting me straight, I based that idea on seeing old motorbike parts cooper plated before nickel plating, and getting similar green spots. Is it the nickel going green then?

Yep 'raw nickel' used to be known as 'German Silver' because of its colour. It's normally 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc - though the proportions can vary a bit. No covers ... or for that matter baseplates are ever made of pure nickel.

PS. As the material is one homogenous alloy all the way through with no plating ... you can lower the pole pieces a bit to help prevent them getting scuffed ... and use a Scotchbrite or Merlon pad to clean the pickup top in the direction of any 'brushing' .

Simples ... squeak.

Thank you, I'll defo give that a go

What about the scratch plate, same thing?

The scratch plate is a more difficult proposition - if's got anodising ... that's a layer like plating, and anything abrasive will take the anodising off. I might try something like a gentle rub with white spirit on a cloth.

thermionic · September 2023

Aluminium very quickly develops a layer of aluminium oxide when exposed to air, and anodising is basically an electrochemical way of getting the same result but with a thicker layer of oxide. A thick, porous layer of oxide can have dyes added in all sorts of colours (most often gold on guitar pickguards). As yours does not appear to have colour added, I would guess that if you can match/blend the texture with some sort of abrasive, the natural formation of oxide would soon make it look more acceptable.

Brio · September 2023

Some folk pay a fortune for relicing like that...
Maybe Murphy Labs will give you a job sweating on Gibsons in SoCal?

DavusPG · September 2023

Brio said:

Some folk pay a fortune for relicing like that...
Maybe Murphy Labs will give you a job sweating on Gibsons in SoCal?

Hahaha
I could be persuaded

ICBM · September 2023

Replace with chrome covered pickups and a plastic pickguard. Job done…

DavusPG · September 2023

ICBM said:

Replace with chrome covered pickups and a plastic pickguard. Job done…

It's crossed my mind!

I've emailed Suhr support to see what their suggestions are...

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Any tips for removing tarnishing from.....

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