Day 614, Single whammy

After thirty years it was about time to remove the grime and corrosion from the tremolo device.  Not having a bucket of hydrochloric acid for grease removal about my person I considered the other options.*

The options were either not do anything about it, or dismantle it.

So I dismantled it.

Thirty years is a long time.  To put that into some sort of perspective I have fifty odd T-shirts and only one of them is older than that, and it looked in better condition than this piece of metal, with only the slight drawback that the shirt no longer fits me, or indeed I it.**

The saddle rollers were in a particularly bad way, pitted and covered in crud from the blistering, oxidised surface.  You really don't want pitting there as it will chew through guitar strings.  A brass wire brush was the answer to that and they soon cleaned up, the discolouration on the rollers is where the chrome has completely gone and the base metal is now showing.  Rollers for the lower strings are in much worse condition, I expect that is due to the greater proximity to the picking hand and exposure to sweat and human grease.

Top tip - always wipe down your instrument after playing - although the reality is that no matter what you will do you will not be able to clean awkward places like these without much more effort than just a 'wipe'.  Lift the strings and rotate the rollers while making sure all 'residue' is removed.  Dipping in a bucket of hydrochloric acid is optional, it will remove grease, however it may also remove other things if not handled carefully.

Fender System 1 Tremolo - actually made by Schaller

Here's a view of the G string saddle roller from before and after cleaning.

* Also known as muriatic acid, it is used for degreasing and cleaning concrete in its dilute form.
** Perspective, may not make sense depending on your point of view, for example, both Farage and Boris Johnson are lying toe-rags, but many people are too dazzled by the light they think shines out of their arses to notice.

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