I'm a bit disappointed.
I had left the SG in its case for a couple of weeks and as I picked it up for some fiddling around, I noticed rust on the pickguard and pup cover screws. Both, the black and the plain unpainted ones.
Ok, it's no big deal, I jammed and gigged with it this year, 3 times, in a seaside environment, but I take pretty good care of it and never even take it out of the case outside, only in air conditioned rooms and venues... AND, my Fender strats have been submitted to the very same treatment, venues and studios and no, not one bit of rust on them. I dare to say Fender uses much better hardware in their domestic production these days.
I put some WD40 on the screws, removed the rust with a cotton bud and applied some more WD40 for keeping oxide away...
Anyway I'm pissed. I hate rusty screws, they remind me of the Epiphones I used to own when I was a bedroom player. Those got all rusty after what, 2 months out of the box.