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Green Rash And The 4003

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:19 pm
by spongebob
Looking into the early 2009 MG's over here, I've been researching about the 'green rash' here on RR.

Seems to be a bit of an issue with the 6-strings. Is it as prevalent amongst the basses?

Being that the few I've seen - two are early Jan '09 builds, one is July....if the problems hasn't shown itself on these yet, does this mean it's unlikely to occur in the future?

I've read it's the cases that affect it. Does the weather have any impact? It's always quite cold or damp over here! :(

Did they change the cases - I had a 2003 FG, and that was always fine.

With no warranty to speak of, I love the MG colour, but am not too keen of having a Ric full of fungus if the weathe changes!

Re: Green Rash And The 4003

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:46 pm
by cassius987
It's caused by a fungus that is present most everywhere, but normally doesn't take hold because of anti-fungal compound(s) preventing it from colonizing within the case even if it is moist enough. IIRC SKB had to remove the anti-fungal compound(s) for legal reasons, which left multiple guitar manufacturers vulnerable to this problem.

If you get the "green rash" like I did you can buff it out and polish it up in under ten minutes, then treat your case with some kind of cleaner like Lysol and air it out thoroughly. It probably won't happen again. It happened once to me (VERY early into owning the instrument) and after getting it taken care of (super easy) it has not reoccurred.

My thinking is that if an instrument has been in stock in the UK for any length of time and was made in the first half of 2009 (when the problem existed), it will either already have developed a problem or never develop it at all. But even if one does, ANY competent person can fix it.

Re: Green Rash And The 4003

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:53 pm
by spongebob
Thanks for that - doesn't sound like too much of a disaster.

Can I ask, out of interest, what you used to buff it out, and what you polished it with afterwards?