The Shining..... (of my PRS)

[Armistice]

Have a PRS custom 22 with stoptail and covered pickups. I've noticed the metal on the bridge and pickups getting a bit tarnished and so I want to shine it up again.

Wondering what to use, or what not to use?

Please note, I'm Australian so I may not have access to particular US brands you may mention - just after general guidance here to make sure I don't put the wrong cleaner on it!

What's the metal - nickel? Is that an alloy (I'm clearly not a metallurgist) or a "real" metal.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Light]

Well, first of all, nickel is a real metal.

It is either nickel or chrome, probably chrome. You can try a good quality guitar polish, or a chrome cleaner (take the parts off the guitar first if you are using chrome cleaner). You can probably get the GHS guitar polish in Aus, which is good. That is what I would try first, as it is one of the better guitar polishes on the market. If you need to get chrome polish, you will need to go to an auto body supply store.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Armistice]

Hi there Light, I was hoping you'd be hanging around here today..

The PRS site says the pickups are nickel, didn't mention the bridge, but I'm assuming it's the same as the pickups - I had to adjust the bridge down a bit and gave one of the big screws a twist with a screwdriver that wasn't quite big enough (yeah, dumb, I know) and I have a slight indentation in the screw on the treble side - if it was chrome I'd expect it to have deformed in a slightly different way (possibly cracked a bit) than it did, so I'll go with nickel I guess.

I think you're right about the GHS polish being available here. I'll pick up some and give it a whirl.

I have some "metal" polish under the kitchen sink that I use to shine the toaster and the kettle which are stainless steel, and it lists various other metals on it that it can be used on, including chrome, but not nickel, so didn't want to just slather than on and ruin the finish. I'll try the GHS first I think!

Cheers.

 

[zyx345]

I've heard Maas Metal polish works great on PRS parts. I sold my PRS awhile back so I didn't get a chance to use it. You can pick it up for about $4.00US a tube. I did include a tube w. the sale.

IMO PRS parts tend to tarnish very easily in a short period of playing time.