Question about my new Stingray

lowb1970 · #1 05-06-2008, 11:07 AM

Hey all, I have already done a search and didn't see anything that specifically addressed this problem I'm having with my new Stingray.

I've had this bass for 3 months now and the frets look like they're oxidizing on me. They have some kind of green looking tarnish forming on them. I keep the bass in the case when not being played and always wipe down my bass when I'm done playing. My Sterling is almost a year old now and I play that bass every day. I have not had any issues with the frets on this bass. My questions is what is the best way to keep this from happening, or to clean the frets first and keep them from doing this in the future? I would expect something like this after many months or even years of neglect but this bass get's played at least once a week at band practice and is cased when not in use. Can someone shed some light on what may be causing this?

Thanks,

lowb1970 · #2 05-06-2008, 11:19 AM

C'mon guys... all you Stingray lovers out there must have had some dealings with this before....

scottbass · #3 05-06-2008, 11:23 AM

Wow, I've never heard of that happening on such a new bass. Frets are made of nickel silver - unless you custom-ordered brass frets. Hmm...brass would oxidize fairly quickly, especially in your Florida environment. You don't have brass frets, do you?

If your frets are nickel silver, I can only speculate that maybe Ernie Ball received a defective spool of fret wire, made of the wrong alloy? If that's the case, there should be dozens of other EB basses suffering from similar oxidation issues in the near future.

Other than that, I don't have a clue...

lowb1970 · #4 05-06-2008, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottbass

Wow, I've never heard of that happening on such a new bass. Frets are made of nickel silver - unless you custom-ordered brass frets. Hmm...brass would oxidize fairly quickly, especially in your Florida environment. You don't have brass frets, do you?

If your frets are nickel silver, I can only speculate that maybe Ernie Ball received a defective spool of fret wire, made of the wrong alloy? If that's the case, there should be dozens of other EB basses suffering from similar oxidation issues in the near future.

Other than that, I don't have a clue...

Hey scottbass, thanks for the reply. I haven't ordered anything special and they looked to be brand new nickel silver when I bought it. I have other MM basses and this isn't an issue with them. I don't want to clean them with light steel wool or something only to have them do this again in another couple of months. SO FRUSTRATING

CapnSev · #5 05-06-2008, 11:39 AM

+1 to the above. Nickel shouldn't tarnish or oxidize. Run over the fretboard with some steel wool to rub it off, and see if it comes back.