Green corrosion on frets

scottpro1969 · Post by **scottpro1969** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:53 pm

Hope someone can give some advise. I just bought an "other" than Rick, inexpensive but good sounding used Peavey T-20 bass and the fretboard is pretty dirty. Maple sealed fretboard with some green corrosion and dirt on the fets themselves. Any ideas for cleaning???

I've heard about using lighter fluid would help but have also heard that using a solvent might make the corrosion spread. Any advise is appreciated. Thanks.

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 1:01 pm

Scott, try this...

http://www.rickresource.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=7&post=151952#POST151952

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:39 pm

The green stuff is caused by a chemical reaction from the acid in one's perspiration on the brass that's part of the metal compound in the fret material. Most frets are made from a nickel silver alloy. There's not much to worry about since this won't do any harm. It's only a visual thing.

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:53 am

This is precisely why we use a proprietary fret alloy that has a very tiny percentage of gold in it. There's not enough gold to affect the hardness but it sure keeps 'em shiny!

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 7:44 am

I've had great results with the 3M. My ES-16 frets (from 1983, and in storage for most of its life) were green when I got the guitar. 3M Perfect-It III took care of it beautifully.

When I refret I use nickel-silver frets that are identical in dimension to the Rickenbacker factory frets, but as far as I know contain no gold.

I've heard nothing about solvents making fret corrosion spread.