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Thread: HELP!! Green "crud" on fretboard! (??)

  1. #1
    Forum Member Boburst's Avatar
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    HELP!! Green "crud" on fretboard! (??)

    On an American series tele, a green slime is developing around frets. I don't have the guitar (friends)--he cleans it off, plays it for an hour so, and it's back! He doesn't have this on his others, and I've never seen it like this. ANY ideas???????? I have an email friendly pic I can send. address -- rrs814@aol.com
    Sell me that guitar!

  2. #2
    Forum Member Boburst's Avatar
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    Re: HELP!! Green "crud" on fretboard! (??)

    Can attachments be posted, or not????
    Sell me that guitar!

  3. #3
    ZoneFiend photoweborama's Avatar
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    Re: HELP!! Green "crud" on fretboard! (??)

    It's sort of normal. It's fret wear fragments that combine with the oils from your fingers. Some people are more acidic or alkaline than others, though I don't know which caused the green stuff.

    I've heard that the best wire is 18% nickel silver. It's the silver I think is what is turning green... I could be wrong, I don't have the problem, or I can't see it because I have rosewood boards, but it really shows up on maple.

    I've cleaned a lot of it off also when I photograph guitars...

    I've been joking that people like to loan me their guitars to take photos of just so I'll "detail" the guitar for free....

    You can post photos if you have a hosting site. if you don't and intend to post a lot of them, you can use Lillypix above for a resonable cost.
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  4. #4
    Forum Member curtisstetka's Avatar
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    Re: HELP!! Green "crud" on fretboard! (??)

    I regularly (maybe every 3 or 4 months) clean my frets with this stuff:

    http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishin...al_Polish.html

    I mask off the fretboard with tape and scrub that shtuff onto the frets. Polish it off with a cloth. The frets get sparkly, shiny. Real purty.

    Warmoth seems to be making necks with stainless steel fretwire if you have very acidic sweat.

  5. #5
    Forum Member BradKM's Avatar
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    Re: HELP!! Green "crud" on fretboard! (??)

    An even cheaper cleaner is good old fashioned toothpaste. Tape off the board and go over the frets with some paste and an old brush, then wipe clean with a wet rag.

    I've got that same acidic sweat that causes cruddy green frets and rusted hardware in a heartbeat, so my guitars get a polish and new minty fresh smell every few months.
    "Go Team Venture!"

  6. #6
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: HELP!! Green "crud" on fretboard! (??)

    It's the metal in the frets reacting to his body chemistry, like when you wear a cheap necklace out of a vending machine and it turns your neck green.

    If it's a maple neck sweat and oils can get trapped between the finish on the fretboard and the frets.

    btw, there's not actually any silver in nickel silver frets.

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