I just bought a really nice Fodera Imperial 5. However, the previous owner left a little to be desired in maintaining the bass. The polepieces for the wood encased humbuckers are quite rusty as are the pup screws, input jack and bridge. Any ideas for making these babies shine again without ruining my bass? Also, what do you guys use to give a bass a good overall cleaning? (fretboard, gloss finish on body, etc.) If I should need to change any screws (pup or bridge) how should I do it without stripping the wood? Thanks, Marc
A quick web search... http://www.chip.com/buick/techtips/rustremoval.html I've used vingar before with some success, but heed that guy's notes about it. You can help neutralize the acid after soaking in vinegar with a baking soda and water paste. Clean that off with water, dry thoroughly, then oil down the parts with any household oil like 3-in-1. Also note this treatment might take the shine off some parts. It'll probably damage lacquered or chromed parts, in particular. I'd leave the pole pieces of the pickups alone. They'll work even rusted, and if they're hidden, who cares.
In my restorations and new constructions, I always use stainless steel screws and other hardware if I can obtain it. It looks good with chrome and can be polished if needed. Never a rust problem.
Navel Jelly. Available at most any auto parts store. Works Great. But try to keep it off of plastic parts, it can dull the finish of some plastics.
