Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

As noted in a previous message i recently purchased a 1966 Rick 4005. While the guitar is in excellent condition i would like the tuning keys to be a bit cleaner. I tried using a silver polish carefully but had limited results. there is a little bit of tarnish. Any thoughts on the best way to remove.

The oft-recommended cleaner here is Zymol:



Great stuff, all natural, smells like coconut. But for heavy tarnish, I don't know if it'll do the trick (hell, I'd have reached for the silver polish myself).

Maas cleaner works a treat on old Kluson tuners...

For metal parts, this stuff rules:

wints wrote:Maas cleaner works a treat on old Kluson tuners...

That's good to know, I can never quite get them looking right.

Which one is the right stuff Wints?
http://www.lastingshine.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

It's funny, I get the dirt off them but I like the tarnish.....

Eden.

collin wrote:For metal parts, this stuff rules:

Now I like the design for that product. Cool.

Thanks everyone great suggestions, will let you know which works best - Zymol or Simichrome

Don't bother with the Zymol. Use Simichrome or MAAS. Zymol is a great wax but too soft to polish metal plating.

moultrup wrote:Thanks everyone great suggestions, will let you know which works best - Zymol or Simichrome

Like Paul said, Zymol is a wax-based cleaner that is most effective on soft surfaces (like paint). Simichrome is an abrasive polishing compound for metal surfaces.

It's great to have both in your arsenal, but I think simichrome is more applicable to the topic of this thread,

i use an old tube of aluminum polish my dad had probably from the late '50's. kleaned my kluson tuners as well as any other basses i had.

I wonder if the tarnish described is actually normal wear and corrosion. Is it feasible to have the tuners disassembled and replated if one wanted that new look?