Another interesting damsel in distress, waiting to be saved:













This is a late-50s/early-60s Sterling, which is a Mosrite-adjacent brand made by a guy named Joe Hall who worked with Semie Moseley between 1959 and the early '60s. This is basically in the form of a late-50s Mosrite, like the ones Joe Maphis and Larry Collins played, and is maybe one of two Sterlings like it. The pickup spacers off gassed, and this otherwise well-kept guitar is going to need a lot of love. Incredibly, both pickups on the guitar side are making sounds. The Mandola side is a mystery for now, because the switch that turns its pickup on is frozen.

Weird-o-rama! 

(extreeeme corrosion. almost looks galvanic) 😯

I've seen a couple instances of this — it's always off-gassing celluloid that does it.

On a very different note, I've sort of fallen down a rabbit hole because of this guitar, wondering whether there are Mosrite/Sterling/Hallmark/Alembic connections other than the infamous Alan Thompson.

The Bakersfield to Arvin to Bay Area guitar building pipeline might be worth researching.

I'm trying to think of what you could soak those Klusons in to get them back. You probably have access to some pretty cool stuff for metal clad coins. I mean... they're just old Klusons, but they've clearly been trimmed individually to fit that instrument. 

I was thinking they might need to be media blasted, burnished, and re-plated, but I'm not sure. They're definitely the part I'm thinking is going to be hardest to bring back. Worst case scenario, I can redo the base plates and find cheap donors for the shells.

On my absurdly rusty blackguard, I ended up just fixing the moving parts inside and leaving the rust on everything. It wasn't nearly as far gone, though.

Quote from: Nova Constellatio on Yesterday at 03:45:41 PMI was thinking they might need to be media blasted, burnished, and re-plated, but I'm not sure. They're definitely the part I'm thinking is going to be hardest to bring back. Worst case scenario, I can redo the base plates and find cheap donors for the shells.

On my absurdly rusty blackguard, I ended up just fixing the moving parts inside and leaving the rust on everything. It wasn't nearly as far gone, though.

"Make it work and leave the cosmetic stuff alone."
In the vintage motorcycle world, this is called a "rustoration"; I like the idea.
And it was pretty obvious at first glance that beauty has Mosrite DNA.  I'm digging it hard!

Peter

I had a brief dalliance with old motorcycles 20 years ago, and absorbed that ethos.

Naval jelly, and there's some stuff (a green liquid, I forget the name) that my buddy Chris used on corroded pickguard screws that worked quite well...I have an old Univox lawsuit LP junior that did that, pickguard falling apart and the bridge was fuzzy green...it's cool now though...

Of course, the best rust-and-corrosion remover is Coca-Cola (esp. the uncut syrup).
Jut make sure you pull the parts out and rinse them thoroughly before that crap eats them right away......

Peter

Good to know, I don't drink the stuff 'cause it makes my teeth feel soft; guess I wasn't imagining it...

Quote from: peoplechipper on Yesterday at 09:12:50 PMGood to know, I don't drink the stuff 'cause it makes my teeth feel soft; guess I wasn't imagining it...

Oh, it's real!
In the 1920s, my maternal grandfather was working in a steel mill whose main thing was trying to develop an alloy that it wouldn't eat through, so they could stop shipping the syrup in glass.
Stainless steel turned out to be the answer.
Any other steel?  You will end up with iron-enriched Coca-Cola.........

Peter

Taking a guess, without a goog... is it carbonic acid? 

I had a mechanic in the motor pool one time show me a trick for getting hydraulic oil off a truck windshield with a soda. I had a snowplow rig hose pop and spray the windshield down... dropped the plow blade, and then the wipers smeared that mess everywhere. Had to bring it in with the window down.