Help! Humbucker problems - wire wool

[olacaiocaiu]

Hey guys,

I was hoping someone could give me some advice. My kid brother borrowed my bass (2003 MusicMan Sub) for a couple of years, and when I came home, he'd tried to clean it up for me. He stupidly used wire wool on the plates on the humbucker pick up, and now I've got tiny filings on the discs.

I heard that it can ruin the pick ups. He said he'd tried to wipe the filings off, but they're really persistent. Is there anything I can do, or am I going to need new pick ups?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Caio

 

[danny-79]

Duck/gaffer/gorilla tape,(what ever you want to call it) that’s worked for me in the past. Use it like a lint roller

 

[tbonesullivan]

ARRRRGGHHHHHHH. Yeah steel wool and guitars should never mix. I know some people used to be about it, but with scotch brite pads and other types of abrasives, there is NO need to ever bring a magnetic catastrophe like steel wool near your guitar.

 

[danny-79]

ARRRRGGHHHHHHH. Yeah steel wool and guitars should never mix. I know some people used to be about it, but with scotch brite pads and other types of abrasives, there is NO need to ever bring a magnetic catastrophe like steel wool near your guitar.

This is true.
Remove the neck from the body BEFORE pulling out wire wool to use in a neck clean up. That’s the only reason I can think of ever needing to put wire wool anywhere near your bass.

Blemishes on pole pieces, sliver polish (tinned stuff, like cotton wool format) (works great on fret wire too, just make sure you mask of the fretboard)

And extra strong tape for removing wire wool, iron filings, heaven forbid they ever come into contact with your pickup (‘s)

 

[Chuck M]

I've used compressed air in the past to blow off wool particles. I've recently redone the neck finish on several Peavey Cirrus basses that use the same type of oil finish used by Ernie Ball. Those are neck thru so removal on the neck is not possible and was not needed. No steel wool fibers got on the PU magnets.

By the way, if you do use compressed air to blow off the steel wool particles, be very sure to protect your eyes with goggles. Steel wool in the eyes is no fun.