My little experiment with pickup coating

Started by Rhcole, June 09, 2017, 04:48:57 PM

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Rhcole

I HATE it when I ding my guitars. I don't like wear and tear. Other guitar players pay for reliced guitars, I think they are nuts.
IN DUE FAIRNESS, whatever floats your guitar boat is absolutely A-OK with me but I love shiny pretty guitars and have since I developed serious guitar lust as a teenager.

SO, I was horrified when my beautiful and rather expensive Gibson CS-336 came down with a bad, bad case of nickel pickup tarnish. The rest of the guitar is near-mint but the PUs now look like a robot barfed on them. Shame.

I really don't get why this happens to some of my guitars and not others. I have guitars of a similar age with a bit of speckling but nothing like the Gibby. Similar playing and storage patterns, who knows?

I went on a couple of forums and asked other players if they had advice to preserve the plating on their PUs. Almost nobody had an answer. Somebody suggested putting clear nail polish on them, which doesn't sound quite right to me. Thus far I haven't really found anybody else who particularly cares about this issue.

Instead, I researched and found this product: https://www.everbritecoatings.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=109&zenid=1c7b37eaf2b3aeb9c3250d9ec1b485a8

IN THEORY, it should provide a virtually invisible coating that prevents oxidation of the PUs, leaving them cheerful and sparkly for years to come. In theory. I see no reason why it might affect the tone, although I likely will have to shield the screws.

It's a 'spearmint. Let's see what happens.




Mrchevy

#1
Why not try some regular chrome polish or liquid car wax. Just apply when ever you change strings. I'm sure if you are anal about keeping your guitars pristine, you give them a good cleaning when you change strings anyways (the best time to get at the places around the bridge and pickups). Waxing will give a protective coating from body oil and sweat which is corrosive. Works on my "69" Impala bumpers. They look like mirrors  8)
Regarding the EVERBRITE. That looks to be a finish clear coat like a varnish or wipe on polyurethane, what you want is a protective coating/cleaner. It seems to me it would be cheaper to buy new covers for the pickups vs that stuff AND, you would likely have to scuff the surface for it to bond properly. My 1.5 cents worth of thought  ;)
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Epi Les Paul Standard
Gibson SG 50's prototype
Squire classic vibe 60's
Epi LP Modern
Epi SG Custom
Martin acoustic

Princeton chorus 210

GT100
GR-55
Helix LT
Waza Air Headphones
Boomerang III

And, a lot of stuff I DON'T need