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WD-40 for your Burst ?

au_rick

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Mar 18, 2010
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871

Joe Walsh explaining how to set up a '58 Les Paul
Would you use WD-40 :eek: ??
 

poor man's burst

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Oct 3, 2010
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WD-40 makes about 10 different products. Among them, one is a contact cleaner. Hopefully, this is the one Joe Walsh uses. He mentioned "pot cleaner" by the way. But I would never ever use standard WD-40 on a vintage guitar, except on a rusty metallic part REMOVED from the guitar.
 

au_rick

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Mar 18, 2010
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871
WD-40 makes about 10 different products. Among them, one is a contact cleaner. Hopefully, this is the one Joe Walsh uses. He mentioned "pot cleaner" by the way. But I would never ever use standard WD-40 on a vintage guitar, except on a rusty metallic part REMOVED from the guitar.
Sure, but I don't think too many of those "other' products were around when this video was made ? :unsure:
 
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Oct 27, 2005
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It's funny....I remember being in a club and the guitar player for the band we were seeing sprayed WD-40 on the fret board of his Yamaha SG like it was his "secret sauce" to lightning speed when he played. Bet all of the frets lifted shortly thereafter with the amount he was using.
 

poor man's burst

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I spray on my fingers and wipe on strings.
WD-40 contains 60 % to 80 % White Spirit, which you should avoid contact with skin. It also contains additives to help going as far as possible in places difficult to reach (WD-40 is a product design to help deblock screws and bolts seized by rust) so it will to migrate on your instrument, which is definitely not a good thing.
 

rays44

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Jul 24, 2001
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I've used WD40 since the late '70's on all my guitars. Spray a small amount on a cloth, grab each string and wipe. Never sprayed directly on fretboard. 40 odd years later, never a problem and nice clean strings.. WD pot cleaner works well on scratchy knobs.
 

rays44

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Jul 24, 2001
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2,911
It's funny....I remember being in a club and the guitar player for the band we were seeing sprayed WD-40 on the fret board of his Yamaha SG like it was his "secret sauce" to lightning speed when he played. Bet all of the frets lifted shortly thereafter with the amount he was using.
Funny, I still have my SG2000 from '78 but never sprayed the fretboard. Guess it was someone else.
Sorry to stray off topic.
 

deytookerjaabs

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Nov 6, 2016
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This is actually a method that was used at Gibson. Long time artist relations and final inspector Rendal Wall says he did it to all the guitars he'd set up for people (many were famous from Wes Montgomery to BB King). I'm unsure if he got the idea from his pops but Rendal started Gibson around the time WD40 was invented. His method was to spray the WD40 on the strings directly before putting them on the guitar then he'd wipe the WD40 off the string leaving just a hair of residue. The idea being "water displacement" to help strings/frets last longer.
 

El Gringo

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Apr 8, 2015
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This is actually a method that was used at Gibson. Long time artist relations and final inspector Rendal Wall says he did it to all the guitars he'd set up for people (many were famous from Wes Montgomery to BB King). I'm unsure if he got the idea from his pops but Rendal started Gibson around the time WD40 was invented. His method was to spray the WD40 on the strings directly before putting them on the guitar then he'd wipe the WD40 off the string leaving just a hair of residue. The idea being "water displacement" to help strings/frets last longer.
In theory I totally get this , and actually makes sense . I pretty much leave everything up to my tech and generally speaking stay out of his way as he knows everything I want and like .
 

Triplet

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Mar 13, 2006
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Dunno, maybe a little would be good for a nylon nut or the bridge saddles but I'd hate to have that residue on the strings and get it on me all the time. I pick up the smell of WD40 real quick - not my favorite.
 
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