Mold on Pickguard, Volume Knob from Gig

[sixstringoverdrive]

Hey Everyone,

We played a gig at a lake a few months back and I just found a lot of mold, mostly underneath the volume knob of my Silver Sky. I'm sure the high humidity and not cleaning afterwards caused it.

I tossed the volume knob and took Lysol wipes to the pots, washers, and nuts to make sure I got it all cleaned. I removed the pickguard and I don't see anything on the underside of it or in the body cavities.

My question is - can the wipes affect the electronics? The Lysol wipes are wet and I know some of that got inside the pots I did spray with Deoxit at the end. I don't think any Lysol wipe liquid got to the pickups, but not 100% sure. Wouldn't think it'd do anything to the pickups.

The guitar currently sounds fine through an amp, not noticeable issues.

Thanks!

 

[JasonE]

This is an interesting issue to have. I live in Florida and everywhere we play is high humidity and close to water and I have never had any sort of issue like this, nor have I heard of anyone in my area having this sort of an issue. Did the inside of your case get wet?

If the wipes didn't negatively affect the finish on your guitar and you didn't notice any issues right after cleaning it, you are probably in good shape.

 

[RickP]

The deoxit would have displaced the moisture, you’re fine.

Like @JasonE says, it’s pretty unusual for humidity to cause that. I’ve done outdoor gigs on the Gulf Coast of Texas, often on the Gulf or an associated bay front, all through my playing career and never saw what you describe. It’s likely some sweat got under there and got nasty over time. Whatever it was, cleaning it out should have you right and ready to go.