i'm thinking the chrome on the epi's is not as well done as the chrome on the Gibsons. 

But.... I have a Gibson SG and the bridge pickup and the bridge did succumb to the salt in my sweat.  I was gigging for a living and they were casualties of the conflict. 




I replaced the original bridge with a Bad Ass Bridge (shown in pic^^^^). The pickup is still there and working. 
The other guitarist had the same problem with his LP. But his pickups were open coils. 

As far as the diet thing and PH..... this is very important. You should strive to maintain a PH above 7.0 and below 7.5 for optimal health.  I use PH test strips every so often to test. 
The more natural foods you eat, like fruits and vegetables and drink water the easier it is to get into that zone. 
There is a train of thought that many diseases can not survive in an alkaline body. By pushing the PH into that range, they are preventable and reversible.  



Meats, pastries, sweets, sodas of all sorts, processed and packaged foods will all take the numbers below 7 and the further south you go into the 6 range the more likely you are to encounter health issues and degenerative types of diseases. 


The first time I encountered the PH for healthy living thing I was a bit doubtful. Then the more I researched it, the more sense it made. I can recall that I had some tomatoes in the garden that were not doing very well. They were growing slowly and were yellow and sickly looking. A soil test showed the soil to be out of their preferred PH range. So after a fix to the soil PH, in a few days the plants turned green, started to grow and produced much fruit. PH matters to plants and it matters to us as well. 

A simple diet change can do wonders to the PH of the body and your overall health. 

 Good luck with that diet. I think that sweat in general tends to be bad for plated hardware. Men tend to sweat more than most women do. Sweat contains salt and salt corrodes hardware. In other words I don't think there is a such thing as sweat that doesn't have some kind of a corrosive effect.

  I would be interested to hear what Spacey makes of this. If it were me and I was concerned about future problems with the bridge, I would remove the plated parts and spray them with a protective clear laquer coating. This might wear off after a year but could always be re applied.

  

 

Guitarhacker


i'm thinking the chrome on the epi's is not as well done as the chrome on the Gibsons. 

But.... I have a Gibson SG and the bridge pickup and the bridge did succumb to the salt in my sweat.  I was gigging for a living and they were casualties of the conflict. 

I replaced the original bridge with a Bad Ass Bridge (shown in pic^^^^). The pickup is still there and working. 
The other guitarist had the same problem with his LP. But his pickups were open coils. 

As far as the diet thing and PH..... this is very important. You should strive to maintain a PH above 7.0 and below 7.5 for optimal health.  I use PH test strips every so often to test. 
The more natural foods you eat, like fruits and vegetables and drink water the easier it is to get into that zone. 
There is a train of thought that many diseases can not survive in an alkaline body. By pushing the PH into that range, they are preventable and reversible.  



Meats, pastries, sweets, sodas of all sorts, processed and packaged foods will all take the numbers below 7 and the further south you go into the 6 range the more likely you are to encounter health issues and degenerative types of diseases. 


The first time I encountered the PH for healthy living thing I was a bit doubtful. Then the more I researched it, the more sense it made. I can recall that I had some tomatoes in the garden that were not doing very well. They were growing slowly and were yellow and sickly looking. A soil test showed the soil to be out of their preferred PH range. So after a fix to the soil PH, in a few days the plants turned green, started to grow and produced much fruit. PH matters to plants and it matters to us as well. 

A simple diet change can do wonders to the PH of the body and your overall health. 

Yeah, I also suspect that the Gibson hardware is better. Still, when I compare to my first uber cheapo LP - on which the chrome remained spotless -  I can't help but think that the pH has probably gone way below where it should be.


I was reading a chart of possible symptoms and problems related to pH issues and it was like someone lifted a veil - I don't think that it's the absolute root cause of all the little things that have been nagging me for years, but I'm sure that it doesn't help. From legs cramps and spasms to sensitive gums, I recognized a bunch of symptoms. Though some of them may have a different cause, I just prefer to put the chances on my side. My joints have always been a source of worries, and I can't neglect to take care of something which may favor arthritis or osteoporosis.


Thanks a lot for the input. Makes a lot of sense when we stop and think about it. I think I'll grab myself some of those strips. :)

Starise


 Good luck with that diet. I think that sweat in general tends to be bad for plated hardware. Men tend to sweat more than most women do. Sweat contains salt and salt corrodes hardware. In other words I don't think there is a such thing as sweat that doesn't have some kind of a corrosive effect.

  I would be interested to hear what Spacey makes of this. If it were me and I was concerned about future problems with the bridge, I would remove the plated parts and spray them with a protective clear laquer coating. This might wear off after a year but could always be re applied.

  

 

Thanks! :) Yeah, I'd also be curious to hear from Spacey on that one. At any rate, I'll have the guitars taken care of when we arrive in Vegas, early September. I'll see how I can minimize the corrosion - because a septentrional fellow like myself isn't likely to sweat any less in Nevada. ;)

sharke

That is a beautiful guitar, man.


The black Epi LP my wife bought me for my birthday truly is a little gem. I actually prefer it to some expensive Gibson Les Pauls I've tried. It felt right, which is something that pretty much never happened w/ LPs and which is why I always played strats.


This one really turned me onto Les Pauls.

Rain

That is a beautiful guitar, man.


The black Epi LP my wife bought me for my birthday truly is a little gem. I actually prefer it to some expensive Gibson Les Pauls I've tried. It felt right, which is something that pretty much never happened w/ LPs and which is why I always played strats.


This one really turned me onto Les Pauls.

I've heard so many people say they prefer Epiphone Les Pauls over the modern Gibson versions. There has to be something in it. For me, I've just found "my" guitar...an American Telecaster. Have pretty much ignored them over the years but played one recently and it just immediately felt right and I had to have it. Feel is everything!

Rain, I too have this problem. I can cook a set of strings with rust, crud, pieces of flesh in an hour. I rust all my parts solid if I'm not careful. I'm on a pretty good dietand and am careful. I don't abuse anything these days.

However, what I've started to do now is not something I did before and I've noticed a major difference in what happens to my guitars. I sweat like a lunatic, so I'll eat a brand new set of strings for every show. That's just the nature of me being me.

But I notice if I wash my hands before I play my guitars and wipe them down after, this has stopped quite a bit of my acid sweat/oils from eating things away. If I wipe my guitars down after playing and always wash my hands before I play, it's amazing how things have changed. Even when I sweat really bad at a show, if I wipe that guitar down as soon as I'm done or during a point in the show where my singer is talking to the crowd, I've noticed that I don't have to change my strings for the next show. I can get two shows out of them now.

With each string change, I clean my entire guitar. All the pup pole pieces, the Floyd screws, the neck, everything. It's really made a difference for me. I think the problem is when we allow the oils or sweat to remain on our guitars that it does damage over time. For certain chrome or gold plated hardware, there's nothing you'll be able to do to stop it from wearing. That's just the nature of the beast really. But you can definitely cut down on that by keeping things cleaner a little more often. It's worked for me. :)

-Danny

I always thought I was a strat guy - from the moment I first put my hands on that 1957 black strat over at a friend's house when I was 12, I knew I wanted one like this. And every guitar I bought after that were strat models.

I ended up finding the right one (it's more like the guitar found me) in 1996. To this day, my American strat is the easiest guitar I've ever played in my life. Almost feels like an extension of my body.

Les Pauls typically gave me a tough time and didn't feel as fluid or comfortable. But the one I just got this summer didn't seem to require as much of an adjustment on my side. And  there's just so much more "meet" to that sound... It's like it's giving me a whole new world of sounds to work with anytime I hit a chord. 

I love that guitar so much that it's the only one I'm keeping w/ me for the next month and a half - the others are going to be sent and stored in Vegas next week. I haven't played my precious black strat in over a month.

I never really played Teles - but I know I'd like one w/ a B-Bender. :P

Danny Danzi


Rain, I too have this problem. I can cook a set of strings with rust, crud, pieces of flesh in an hour. I rust all my parts solid if I'm not careful. I'm on a pretty good dietand and am careful. I don't abuse anything these days.

However, what I've started to do now is not something I did before and I've noticed a major difference in what happens to my guitars. I sweat like a lunatic, so I'll eat a brand new set of strings for every show. That's just the nature of me being me.

But I notice if I wash my hands before I play my guitars and wipe them down after, this has stopped quite a bit of my acid sweat/oils from eating things away. If I wipe my guitars down after playing and always wash my hands before I play, it's amazing how things have changed. Even when I sweat really bad at a show, if I wipe that guitar down as soon as I'm done or during a point in the show where my singer is talking to the crowd, I've noticed that I don't have to change my strings for the next show. I can get two shows out of them now.

With each string change, I clean my entire guitar. All the pup pole pieces, the Floyd screws, the neck, everything. It's really made a difference for me. I think the problem is when we allow the oils or sweat to remain on our guitars that it does damage over time. For certain chrome or gold plated hardware, there's nothing you'll be able to do to stop it from wearing. That's just the nature of the beast really. But you can definitely cut down on that by keeping things cleaner a little more often. It's worked for me. :)

-Danny

Thanks for the tip, Danny. :)


I guess I'll have to adopt similar practices - washing my hands before I play is standard practice but I need to make it an habit to clean guitar a bit when I'm done. I guess maybe the problem isn't so much that my sweat is corrosive, but that I allow it to dry on the guitar.


I'm pretty good at cleaning up the whole thing every time I change strings, but by then, the damage is done. If I can at least slow down the process, it'll be a good thing.

I'm surprised and humbled.

The health part? I don't know but wish ya well.

The hardware parts?...I don't know...I'm with Danny.

Now my opinion...and probably not good ones but they're mine and easy to get rid
of so no worries.
Once I own the guitar I want things to work. I set it up to play as I want and
I want that neck fast. I can't stand for there to be just a little nick in it.
I thought all guitarist washed before they played.....

If that bridge works...and all the chrome starts falling off...I don't care because the
scratches it had will be gone too. Gold? forget it. It just goes. I don't think one even
has to play the guitar for it to happen. Callaham even quit messin with the junk.
Gold belongs in your teeth. Smile.
How to slow the wear? I don't know. I do the standard stuff...wash, play, rinse and spin.
Maybe there's a setting for delicates...I just don't know.

I don't abuse my guitars. I play them. Whatever happens is just part of it and as I said-
if the thing works, no worries. If you dropped my guitar and everything still worked...I just
don't care. If something broke...well now it has to be fixed. Neither of those things are
an issue to me and may be reason to try something I'd been wanting to anyway.
(of course I like ya or you wouldn't have been playing it in the first place...that means
you're worth more to me than the guitar is)

If you are one that is really concerned about the chrome and shiney stuff...buy two and
play one.
....it gives ya good reason to try a different bridge or whatever.
If it's machines it gives you a chance to try a different weight of machine...yeah thats right...
most don't have the coins to get different machines just to try out but trust me...the size and weight of that head has a big impact on tones. So stuff breaking or wearing out ain't so bad. A chance to learn and make mod's ya wanted to anyway.

Then there's the money part..that's personal. You make your call there.

So now ya know how I got it covered head to toe....er bridge. :)
 
Are Dannys post getting shorter and mine are getting longer?