pickup rust

[bass rocks]

the magnets on my PV milestone 2 international series pickups have some rust on them does this effect sound if so what do i do

[Phalex]

It doesn't affect the sound. I've heard people will put a thin layer of clear nailpolish over the pole pieces to keep them from rusting. I don't really care what they look like myself.

[Samsound]

Yeah you can clean it off carefully with a bit of fine sandpaper (or an Emory board) then apply a very thin coat of clear nailpolish.

[bass rocks]

i dont care about looks though thanks

[Benjamin Strange]

Originally Posted by Samsound

Yeah you can clean it off carefully with a bit of fine sandpaper (or an Emory board) then apply a very thin coat of clear nailpolish.

You could do this, but there's a small chance that you could get sandpaper dust and other crap in the coil, and possibly ruin your pickup. On some pickups you can actually remove the slugs and/or screws and clean them separately.

[BIGmackie]

This happened to my 5 string jazz and I pulled the pups, put some masking tape around the coils, and used 0000 steel wool to clean it up. Worked great, masking tape kept everything clean and now it doesn't look like a singer poured a pitcher of beer on my head.

Maybe it's just me but I think it sounds a bit brighter now that I cleaned 'em up.

[SP_EB4L]

I bought an Epiphone EB-1 from Prince-Edward-Island last year this spring and it come with completly rusted slug and screws, is some body know if it's possible to remove the slugs and replace it by new ones? Or if the coil is attached to it? Maybe those who had this problems live near the sea because it never happend to the bass that comes from inland places.

[Rick Auricchio]

Originally Posted by BIGmackie

...I pulled the pups, put some masking tape around the coils, and used 0000 steel wool to clean it up.

Doesn't that guarantee that you got tiny bits of steel wool stuck to the magnets?

Those little bits can end up as nasty splinters. And they'll rust.

[Pilgrim]

Never use steel wool on pickups or around them. You will end up with tiny bits of broken steel on the pickup due to magnetic attraction. There are plenty of alternative cleaning procedures that use non-magnetic materials.

[BIGmackie]

Yeah, there really wasn't what I would consider a great deal of metal on the pole pieces during this process. In fact, from my experience steel wool puts off less debris than other abrasives (sandpaper or emery boards). I chose this method because I'm not too partial of these pickups so if it ruined them I wouldn't be heartbroken. It worked out well for me.