quantumeffect

Karyn
or just make the bridge from zinc...

 
The sacrificial anode is simply an antioxidant in that it is preferentially oxidized or corroded ... in other words ... it goes away.  So using a component of your instrument that has to maintain its mechanical integrity is probably not a good idea.
 
There are other issues that would make the implementation a sacrificial anode difficult.  They are most effective when the two metals are in physical contact with an electrolytic solution (fancy talk for salt water).  If there is salty sweat on the strings but the anode remains dry, its effectiveness is probably reduced (I'm guessing).
   

If you want to go all teknicul,  you're making a voltaic pile cell of the steel/nickel strings and the zinc. The zinc will act as the anode and the strings the cathode. Your sweaty hands are the electrolyte. By making the bridge the zinc anode you guarantee contact.  Yes, the bridge will gradually dissolve onto your hand, but it will protect your strings.
 
See Rain's photo of his LP bridge for how well this works using chromium..

Some guitar players are saying to use Cobalt Strings (as in Ernie Ball Cobalt Strings).
I guess, have not tried them yet (they cost a bit more I think).
 
http://www.ernieball.com/tone-universe
Zee Linky-Doodle!
Might wear frets faster than nickel or regular strings??
 

FWIW, short of being able to ingurgitate half a dozen bananas a day, I grabbed potassium supplements today and will give that a try.
 
I'll try to find test strips next time we go to CVS or Walgreens. 

Stop playing acid rock and it'll clear up in no time!

My SG's original bridge became corroded due to sweat on it where my hand would rest as I played.  I had to eventually replace it and that one also corroded. The combination of salt and acid in the sweat. I tried to wipe it off every night but some always remained and over time it took a toll. When gigging for a living, I changed the string on a weekly basis regardless. But they got wiped down every night and sometimes in between the sets too if it was an especially hot stage.
 
Acid levels in the body.  Yep, we should be on the Alkaline side of the scale for optimal health.  With 7 being neutral, the ideal location is 7.3 to 7.6 or so.  Diet is a major factor in those numbers as is what you drink. Water being best, natural juices next and soda and artificial stuff dead last. 
 
Testing should be saliva after you wake up and wash the mouth out with clean water, let it come back to a natural state by waiting 10 minutes or so and then test it.
 
There is a belief among many folks into natural health practices, that acidic bodies are generally prone to sickness and disease and alkaline bodies are generally healthy and that diseases can not get a start in an alkaline environment. Adherents to this belief also believe some forms of cancer can be stopped dead in their tracks and reversed in a few weeks by keeping the PH levels above 8 for a time period of several days. It's based on how other living organisms react in adverse PH environments. Kinda makes sense. I had a garden some time back where I had gotten into the lazy bad habit of dumping the ash from my wood stove into the garden all winter long. I tilled it up and planted veggies in the spring. Nothing seemed to be growing like it should....plants were weak and yellow and sickly. I checked the soil PH and found out the ashes had sent the PH way off the scale. I added the proper ingredients to bring the PH back to the normal range for the plants and in a few days there was a major improvement in the veggies and the garden started to flourish. Most seed packs give you a specific PH range for that plant. Hydrangeas which have normally blue flower heads in most soils will produce pink flowers if you add a bit of lime to the soil to change the PH. 
 
If PH matters to plants, certainly, it matters to humans and could in fact influence whether we are healthy or sickly in the long run.

Rain
FWIW, short of being able to ingurgitate half a dozen bananas a day, I grabbed potassium supplements today and will give that a try.
 
I'll try to find test strips next time we go to CVS or Walgreens. 

You can also try a little baking soda in some water a few times a day. Maybe half a teaspoon in a glass of water. It'll increase your alkalinity in no time...

Guitarhacker
My SG's original bridge became corroded due to sweat on it where my hand would rest as I played.  I had to eventually replace it and that one also corroded. The combination of salt and acid in the sweat. I tried to wipe it off every night but some always remained and over time it took a toll. When gigging for a living, I changed the string on a weekly basis regardless. But they got wiped down every night and sometimes in between the sets too if it was an especially hot stage.
 
Acid levels in the body.  Yep, we should be on the Alkaline side of the scale for optimal health.  With 7 being neutral, the ideal location is 7.3 to 7.6 or so.  Diet is a major factor in those numbers as is what you drink. Water being best, natural juices next and soda and artificial stuff dead last. 
 
Testing should be saliva after you wake up and wash the mouth out with clean water, let it come back to a natural state by waiting 10 minutes or so and then test it.
 
There is a belief among many folks into natural health practices, that acidic bodies are generally prone to sickness and disease and alkaline bodies are generally healthy and that diseases can not get a start in an alkaline environment. Adherents to this belief also believe some forms of cancer can be stopped dead in their tracks and reversed in a few weeks by keeping the PH levels above 8 for a time period of several days. It's based on how other living organisms react in adverse PH environments. Kinda makes sense. I had a garden some time back where I had gotten into the lazy bad habit of dumping the ash from my wood stove into the garden all winter long. I tilled it up and planted veggies in the spring. Nothing seemed to be growing like it should....plants were weak and yellow and sickly. I checked the soil PH and found out the ashes had sent the PH way off the scale. I added the proper ingredients to bring the PH back to the normal range for the plants and in a few days there was a major improvement in the veggies and the garden started to flourish. Most seed packs give you a specific PH range for that plant. Hydrangeas which have normally blue flower heads in most soils will produce pink flowers if you add a bit of lime to the soil to change the PH. 
 
If PH matters to plants, certainly, it matters to humans and could in fact influence whether we are healthy or sickly in the long run.

There has been some talk of baking soda being used in cancer treatment for this very reason - the University of Arizona apparently got a large grant to study it. However, getting a grant is of course no guarantee of anything, and studies come and go without making any kind of impact. Would be nice if it did make a difference though. It's hard to get any kind of definitive information on health stuff like this because the internet is so full of conflicting information, and there are a million and one "alternative" websites that peddle all kinds of theories that have no scientific basis and are when you get down to it nothing more than anecdotal evidence (passed around from site to site in a huge game of Chinese Whispers).
 
The trouble is that "alternative" practitioners tend to greatly exaggerate things into some kind of miracle cure, and it's a shame because sometimes things that do have some kind of health benefit lose their credibility among it all. A case in point is goji berries. I remember when I first started eating these, I looked them up online and was amazed to find hundreds of websites listing hundreds of ailments that they were supposed to be a miracle cure for. And then of course you have a bunch of mythical BS about people in the Himalayas living to 150 on them. The hype surrounding these berries is unbelievable. There are shallow celebs like Madonna swearing by them. The truth is that there's nothing miraculous about them at all, and anyone wading through this BS might be tempted to steer clear of what looks like another rip off, when in actual fact it's a shame because they're actually very nutritious berries. They're just not magical. Similarly, eating an alkaline diet is no doubt very healthy indeed considering all the fruit and veg it entails, and there may well be various health benefits to keeping the bodily fluids in a more alkaline state, but some of the claims made on websites are no doubt spun from whole cloth. If being more alkaline extends the life of my guitar strings however, I'm all for it.

Rain
Lots of great info here. Thanks for starting this thread, Sharke.
 
I can't imagine eating 6 bananas a day, though - unless I refrain from eating almost anything else. I usually have one for breakfast in my shake. Then maybe another one later with cottage cheese or greek yogurt. Maybe I should look for supplements to help make sure I get enough.
 
I am addicted to coffee but I'm trying to replace a few of my daily cups with free tea. Really isn't easy. Often I end up making coffee afterwards, anyway, so I'm not replacing anything, just adding tea to my daily beverages list.
 
I've had my Gibson SGJ for almost 4 months now. It rarely leaves when I'm in the studio - which is usually + 8 hours a day. As you can see, the finish is going away quickly in many spots. The bridge screw lost its shiny finish, and the saddles' top changed color, but the bridge itself is ok. Nothing compared to my Epiphone Les Paul bridge after a few months.
 
SG

 
LP


 
 

Wow... that is incredible. On the UP side, you should really be getting to be a better and better player all the time. It's the 10,000 hour rule. Gladwell wrote a really interesting book on the subject and gave many examples, including The BEATLES who, became SO head and shoulders good because of more than their talent and place in time BUT because of playing the Cavern (or another club) in Hamburg where they had to play 8 hours a day all week and did it for a year or more, IIRC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book). I liked the book. I am amazed at what you have done to that guitar in 4 months, Gibson should hire you to age their CS guitars!! Roight??
 
J

jbow
 
 
Wow... that is incredible. On the UP side, you should really be getting to be a better and better player all the time. It's the 10,000 hour rule. Gladwell wrote a really interesting book on the subject and gave many examples, including The BEATLES who, became SO head and shoulders good because of more than their talent and place in time BUT because of playing the Cavern (or another club) in Hamburg where they had to play 8 hours a day all week and did it for a year or more, IIRC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book). I liked the book. I am amazed at what you have done to that guitar in 4 months, Gibson should hire you to age their CS guitars!! Roight??
 
J

It needs to be said that that type of finish isn't all that resistant - but still, I do wear it down quite a bit, and quicker than most I've seen.
 
The thing is that, in the interest of self-preservation, I've discarded many techniques and playing styles when I was younger. But that was a very dumb move because that's not how you learn. Yet, eventually, it hit me and I pushed myself outside my comfort zone, and it helped fuel my passion for the instrument again.
 
I'll never be the next Malmsteen or Vai, but I can learn tons of things from them instead of focusing on players that I can more easily emulate. And though I'll never reach their level, every day, I'm a better player than the day before and find new ways to express myself. Which is what this is all about.  I'm thankful to have the opportunity to do that.

I think I'll buy cheap strings and eat whatever I want. I'll probably live forever.