Sea Air

guitarboy2828

So, for those of you that live in durban, near the sea, you'll know where I'm coming from, for those of you lucky guys who don't know what I'm talking about.. You can laugh and be grateful you don't have to deal with this! ?

I live in Ballito, in an apartment on the beach. Right now, I can type this, look up and see the waves breaking on the shoreline. Doesn't that sound lovely? Well, it shouldn't, because, anything metal in my house is now rust.. No matter what I do, where I hide it, rust finds it. I can't leave any of my guitar gear out, otherwise it becomes rusted.. This is most frustrating, because if I wana noodle, i have to go unpack my guitar, unbox my pedal, unwrap my amp and then plug everything in, set everything up and then only do i get to play.. So, often times when I want to jam, i get over it because of the annoyance of setting it all up and packing it all away.

My question is this, what can i do? Any suggestions? I can't move right now, as I got this apartment at a really good price and I can't really afford much else around here.. Before I moved up to Ballito, I would have all my guitars set up and ready to play, pedals out, amps plugged in.. So I would play A LOT more in any chance I got. Now I only tend to play when I know i have an hour or more, otherwise it hardly seems worth the effort.. Sad, i know..

HELP ME!!!!

DonovanB

oil prevents rust. but you can't really put that on your strings..

Just a wiping of oil on exposed metal helps prevent rust. Cheap motor oil will do as it has additives that will help protect the metal.

just try keep stuff as clean as possible. I don't live on the beach so I can manage my rust issues.

guitarboy2828

Cool, thanks.. Will try that.. Will be hard to put oil on most things though.. Will dip my laptop in it though! ?

DonovanB

ha ha, it was an old fitter's trick. We had to wipe down all the work benches once a week with oil at tech.

This is also why I don't mind buying cheap gear. Even if it doesn't last long because even expensive stuff is prone to rust and will die anyway. It's like paying to watch stuff disintegrate.

My poor Uno... sniff....

Ray

wont it help to keep everything under a blanket?

guitarboy2828

Ray wrote wont it help to keep everything under a blanket?

Haha, funny you mention that.. My amp is under a blanket.. my guitar is in it's case, under a blanket.. They are still feeling the effects of rust... However, it's a lot better than it sitting in the open. But still frustrating!

Sean

Start playing the recorder? ? Apologies for the lack of sympathy. You can look out over the ocean, I look out over Sasol factory... slightly easier for me to pick up a guitar and play, little more effort for you... imo, you still win ☹

guitarboy2828

Haha, seun, that's what you think. I think you have won though! ?

Breeze

How 'bout just doodling on your yamaha when you want a quikie - you do get special fret and string oils. Personally I'm more into electric but I often just muck about on my acoustic when I'm watching tv or something. I grew up about a km from the beach in Scottburgh so I know how badly everything turns to shit. I suppose the natural balance of nature dictates that every plus must have a negative.