And, as this is a post after a very looooong pause, that translates in a very reduced guitar use, I am going to talk about the "Guitar Care". Of course your guitar is not just a tool that you use at your wish and that will take care about itself.... You need to put some care in it and you need to do it on a regular base, otherwise you will end like I did....:
Yes, that's my ZO-3 bridge! But let's go on in order.
First of all, you should know that all metallic parts of your guitar are subject to an oxidative stress that comes mainly from two factors:
● Air humidity/temperature/composition
● You hands
I thought that connecting the noise discharge from the pickup to the bridge could bring some rusting but I was told by a pro (Seiji) that it does not have anything to do with that!
Of course you can do very little about air parameters, as they are factors that get decided by the climate you live in and if you are close to the sea or not. In my case, probably the high humidity + the sea breeze have created the perfect conditions for that wonderful rust.
On the contrary, something you can control are your hands. I know those times when you just want to grab the guitar and play some riffs and then you put it back on the stand! Those are the times when you should exert the maximum care! You should always wash your hands to remove the grease (which stains the fretboard) and the salts (which make the strings rust). I know that this is annoying but it should be accustomed to this. Something that I was completely underestimating was my right hand! As you mute the strings you keep the hand on the bridge and when you sweat a lot, well... you know... you get the rust. So, as a combination for these two conditions (long inactivity and sweat) when I took my ZO-3 for playing, I found out that the bridge was a rusty block!
I removed the strings (no rust) and the saddles (hence the picture above) and started to clean up everything starting from the fretboard.
Here you can see the cleaned fret in comparison with the unpolished ones, showing a different light color. Of course, that was the color the fretboard had the day it came here, but using it everyday, you get used to the darkest murky brown.
I did not use any soap, just some water on a cloth and some gentle brushing. Don't mess with solvents, cleaners and so on as you can ruin the frets!!! Somebody use lemon oil after the cleaning to give a bright touch to the wood but I don't think it is actually needed.
Next, I had to clean the rusty mess. What you can see in the picture above is the bridge as it looked like after unscrewing all the saddles... a mess of rust! So, to clean that thing I needed to brush out the rust to expose back the metal surface: by doing this, you make a lot of rust powder so don't let it enter the pickup slot or the contacts. It is not harmful but after all you are cleaning the guitar...! Beware also of the risk of scratching your guitar with the brushing tool you chose: you are working on the brink between the bridge and the body, so you may think about using some masking tape.
Last, when you get all the screws, the saddles and the bridge back to its original color, you can use a special "rust suppressor" on the metal parts to slow down further rust development. I used the "Fernandes surface protector 956" which states to be specific for metal parts. I suggest you to cover each saddle, screw and spring when you get them back in place, so you can cover the entire piece with cream (not only the bottom). Of course once you finish this assembling step, you will have to face again the torture of the action setting and the intonation!! Do a favour to yourself, measure the saddle positions and heights before dismantling! You will save a lot of time later!
Of course I'm planning to make this creaming a regualr task to avoid falling in the same problem. I definitely have to take more care of my things!! Next will be the Floyd Rose bridge.... I don't know how the hell I will take apart (and put back together) that nasty thing!
Rock on!
