Any tips for cleaning up pickup covers?

[jtbadge]

I have a DGT with a bunch of corrosion on the brushed pickup covers. I was wondering if anyone had tips for cleaning them up without damaging anything?

I've previously used green scotchbrite to give some Dimarzio 36th PAFs the brushed look. But I need to clean all of this other stuff off first.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

The safest way to rescue these, may be to unsolder the covers from the pickup and make light passes with a scotch-brite as you’ve mentioned.

That way none of the dirt particles/scotch-brite will go into the pickup, which may damage them.

Also consider mounting the scotch-brite onto a piece of MDF (or similar) to keep the brushed look level.

Hope you find a solution that suits you.

 

[Moondog Wily]

I have used both magic cloth (or gorgomyte cloth) as well as fret erasers to clean them up. With the fret erasers, don't get on the edge or it will leave lines that you will then need to polish out. All that said, I have never worked on any quite to this level. I think Alnuse makes a good point about taking the covers off as they are going to require some real cleaning and doing so with them on the guitar could lead to other troubles. Best of luck and be sure to let us know what works for you when done!

 

[deepender]

I’m probably in the minority here, but with guitars I’ve worked on with rust, I’ve tried to preserve the rust that wasn’t flaky. It adds some real mojo to the look sometimes. ((And I’m one that keeps my guitars in cases and is kinda obsessed with wiping off fingerprints)

 

[bodia]

Blue Magic

 

[Lewguitar]

I'd leave it alone. Just clean it up and show the world that you love the guitar enough to put some good honest wear on it.

I'll bet David's own favorite DGT looks a lot worse for wear!

I've rubbed covers with Brasso metal polish and also with SemiChrome metal polish.

Made them look "better" but not really a huge improvement.

You can make it more uniform by doing the ScotchBrite pad thing.

I've done it a few times now (learned about it here on the forum) and if your leads are long enough you might be able to pull it off without unsoldering the pickups.

But I'd just leave it alone.

 

[jtbadge]

Some great advice here. I don’t mind a bit of dirtyness but the extreme green stuff is really gross.

And this isn’t my play wear, it came when it was missing for a decade without being taken care of very well (see my other thread). That makes it a little upsetting for me. I’ll probably leave the paint alone but this is a bridge too far I think.

 

[László]

Best I've found is Flitz metal polish. If memory serves it's made in Germany, Works great on all the metal parts I've tried it on.

 

[Lewguitar]

Some great advice here. I don’t mind a bit of dirtyness but the extreme green stuff is really gross.

And this isn’t my play wear, it came when it was missing for a decade without being taken care of very well (see my other thread). That makes it a little upsetting for me. I’ll probably leave the paint alone but this is a bridge too far I think.

Yeah. I don't like a previous owner's DNA all over my guitar either!

 

[DISTORT6]

Yeah. I don't like a previous owner's DNA all over my guitar either!

You shop in some weird stores.

 

[Geo408]

Mother’s Mag and Aluminum polish, available at Walmart. $8.00…use a little on a cotton cloth, and they’ll look like new. No damage to the metal, either. Of course it’ll look out of place on an apparently well loved goldtop! Good luck.

 

[jtbadge]

I made a paste from baking soda and a few drops of water, and that went a long way. Then a run of silver foam as that is what we had on hand. They're halfway there or so. The brown and green spots are all gone, now just some lines from the strings pressing on the bridge pickup cover in the case and a couple little spots.



Might try one or two of these other methods/products before calling it good.

Thank you!!

 

[DISTORT6]

I made a paste from baking soda and a few drops of water, and that went a long way. Then a run of silver foam as that is what we had on hand. They're halfway there or so. The brown and green spots are all gone, now just some lines from the strings pressing on the bridge pickup cover in the case and a couple little spots.



Might try one or two of these other methods/products before calling it good.

Thank you!!

Looks good!
Now you can supply your own crud.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Great job, the strong marks might not go completely.

My Santana has similar marks on the pickups, I can polish them almost away and then they sort of appear slightly.

 

[xxxadixxx]

Great solution and results. That is definitely good enough in my book and where I would stop. They are relatively clean yet still distinguished.

 

[Lewguitar]

I made a paste from baking soda and a few drops of water, and that went a long way. Then a run of silver foam as that is what we had on hand. They're halfway there or so. The brown and green spots are all gone, now just some lines from the strings pressing on the bridge pickup cover in the case and a couple little spots.



Might try one or two of these other methods/products before calling it good.

Thank you!!

That looks great! About as good as it can get.

 

[RCM78]

Finish them off with Mothers mag/aluminum polish.

 

[Bogner]

Coca Cola For Rust...Blue Magic For Anything Else.