"Grungy" gold hardware - MIM strat

I have a buddy with a MIM strat that's about 5 or so years old - was rode hard and put away for a couple years (in a storage unit) unprotected and in fairly dirty condition. We took it in for a full setup, and the tech (who did a really great job with setup and fret leveling) said he couldn't do much with the grunge on all the gold hardware, stating it was actual gold, and that pretty much anything he'd do to it to clean it would ruin the plating.

Anyone know if this is right? Is there any way to clean up the hardware? Unfortunately, it looks too dirty to call it 'mojo' or vintage... :razz:

Thanks!

Wow - no love in the strat forum, eh? :)

It is very thin.... even an abrasive guitar polish can eat through it.... Now, ask me how I know...:wink:

I would try some of the stuff that's used for cleaning silverware.

The gold is going to come off, best thing to do is choose your product and try one spot that is not so noticable and see how it fares, if the gold rubs right off just dry wipe it off and call it a day, it's mojo now whether he likes it or not

people would pay extra for that type of thing....

Post pics. I would love to see it

I have a buddy with a MIM strat that's about 5 or so years old - was rode hard and put away for a couple years (in a storage unit) unprotected and in fairly dirty condition. We took it in for a full setup, and the tech (who did a really great job with setup and fret leveling) said he couldn't do much with the grunge on all the gold hardware, stating it was actual gold, and that pretty much anything he'd do to it to clean it would ruin the plating.

Anyone know if this is right? Is there any way to clean up the hardware? Unfortunately, it looks too dirty to call it 'mojo' or vintage... :razz:

Thanks!

Gold plating always seems to go sooner than chrome/nickel. It's just a downside that everyone I know who has gold plated stuff learned to live with. Only option I have seen is, that if it's REALLY BAD, you can swap everything out to chrome or pick up new saddles, etc. from some of the parts sellers on Ebay.

people would pay extra for that type of thing....



True that!

I have a Gibby Les Paul with gold hardware and that got badly discolored and was advised by the "other half" to use cigarette ash to clean it as she had read someplace that it was good for gold jewellry. It was too, being a smoker I had access to plenty of ash. Worked a treat, pups, bridge, tuners and tail all shining bright now....

people would pay extra for that type of thing....

He could probably sell the dang thing for the money to get something like a nice callaham..

I may go throw all my old parts out in the yard and sell them just before christmas!

Generally you can get scrunge off of hardware with a soft bristle toothbrush and some WD40 or naptha, but the tech is right that there's a risk of wearing off the gold with anything abrasive (including a brush). What might be happening, however, is the tech is simply protecting you from a huge bill that nobody would be willing to pay. If it's so dirty that a complete disassembly and soaking is the only way to clean the hardware, then that would require a good deal of work and time, and a new setup once all the saddles are re-installed.

I wore some of the gold off of a set of Grover rotomatic tuners on a Guild acoustic just using a handheld pegwinder for a few string changes.

I really doubt that there's any $1600/oz gold anywhere near that guitar. Even on the switch contacts.

Grime Space is asking about Gold Grunge? Ash sounds possible. Pic.s or it didn't happen.

Oh it happened, all right - I'll see if he's interested in putting pics up. Thing is, he's really happy with the playability, and that's helping him make peace with the 'mojo'.

These comments have been really helpful - direct confirmation of what we were told, and a warning to any potential gold hardware buyer.

I'm really curious about the ash - what is that supposed to do? Sounds like fixing everything with Windex to me :)

I hate, hate, HATE gold hardware. I bought a MIM Strat a while back, also with gold hardware, and the first thing I did was replace most of the hardware with chrome. The few remaining pieces that I couldn't find suitable chrome replacements for got the Dremel/polishing compound treatment, and they're nice and shiny non-gold as well now.

I have a buddy with a MIM strat

stating it was actual gold

Real gold, on an MIM Strat... Ummmmm... Very, very unlikely.