Hi all. First post. I sought out a forum for guitar maintenance and this was one of the first "googles" so here I am.
My father has a 68ish strat. It's a classic. It's kind of beat up and it needs some maintenance, for sure. I've been trying to get him to give it to me because he barely plays it but he just won't part with it. Looks like I'm going to have to wait until he buys the farm. :) Kidding.
Anyway, he has this really bad habit of leaving it in his basement on a stand covered by a sheet and/or blanket. He doesn't seem to understand humidity. I hadn't seen it in months but I was there today and was horrified to see that it was on its usual stand in the basement covered with several blankets. I uncovered it to find that there is mildew (or something) on the fretboard and head. It's a rosewood fretboard. Any ideas on what would be safest with which to clean it? I was thinking a little water+vinegar but I don't want to harm the wood, obviously.
This will be the first of what I assume will be many steps to clean this guitar up. It's dusty, the saddles in the trem have a touch of oxidation, and the volume and tone pots crackle a bit. I don't know much about this stuff but I'm going to be researching it here and elsewhere.
Any advice on the cleaning would be great and any advice on the other stuff would be gravy.
Thanks!
In case anyone wants to know, I did a bit of googling and decided that the best course of action would be to clean the mildew off with a heavy diluted white vinegar + water solution. It seems to have worked quite well. The guitar needs a lot more work but at least right now it's playable.
I was going to suggest white vinegar and COLD water diluted to 1 : 10 ratio. Use cotton wool rather than a rag. Certainly not paper towel as they can be abrasive.
