Help with "restoring" (maintenance) on 1986 Rhoads

[ccasj]

Man it's been so long since I've touched this guitar or been on these forums. My 86 Rhoads needs a little love, myself with a lot of the hardware that's rusted, corroded, dirty, etc. I'm hoping for help on what I can do to clean things up. I know some of these older custom shops are pretty valuable now so I'm not sure if I should just be replacing some hardware or just doing my best to clean it.

Also for the wing chips, is there anything I can do to just protect them and stop from getting worse?

Side note: there's still no way to look up info about original build on these, is there?

https://imgur.com/a/znXvhkk

[Razor]

For metal hardware use a good penetrating oil like Kroil and "Fine" bronze wool. It will not damage metal finishes. Just use some elbow grease, and if you let the metal parts soak in Kroil for a day or two it will help too. Otherwise do your best to clean it. I'm no help on the wingtip damage. They kind of are what they are unless you have it professionally fixed or have the ability to do it yourself.

[ccasj]

Between some Internet searching and just using what I had on hand, ended up getting it in a shape I'm really happy with. My only misstep was testing CLR in an ultrasonic bath for the pickup screws. Found that that stripped the black oxide finish. Easy enough to get new ones though and they still look fine anyway. I ended up using generic metal polish and a microfiber for all chrome parts, and 3 in 1 oil for all the black oxide parts. Surprisingly the rust cleaned up really well from the black oxide with just wiping them down with the oil. I pulled the Floyd Rose and did a full strip down since I was changing string gauges anyway.

Also took this opportunity to give my fretboard a good clean and oil, and clean inside all the pickup cavities, etc.

Does anyone know the correct size for truss rod? I think I had it at 9/32" by my standard socket was not deep enough to get a good grab on it.

https://imgur.com/a/jVXNxk4

[Number Of The Priest]

I'm also a user of 3-IN-ONE Multi-Purpose Oil for cleaning guitar hardware, including all Floyd parts disassembled. I've used it on chrome, gold, black, and cosmo black finished hardware. All looked great when I was done. 3-IN-ONE cleans, lubricates, and penetrates rust, so your results are consistent with the product label's claims and my own personal findings.

Your post-restoration pictures are amazing. Look at that vintage beauty shining and ready to rock. I love finding neglected guitars, cleaning them up, and giving them new life. It often only takes an afternoon to do the work, while listening to albums or audiobooks, which is very relaxing and therapeutic. The result is almost always discovering they are monster players when I'm done setting them up, and before I realize it, I've spent and entire evening and night still playing the freshly resurrected shred machine. The amusing downside is that if I bought the neglected guitar specifically to flip, it's hard to let them go after I'm done the work because they play and look so great!

Like Razor, I am useless with wood repairs so I cannot comment. I imagine it would not be too difficult finding relevant information and photos. I've seen some impressive headstock and wingtip repair photos online from people who have attempted it for their first time and from those with more experience.

[Razor]

I love finding neglected guitars, cleaning them up, and giving them new life. It often only takes an afternoon to do the work, while listening to albums or audiobooks, which is very relaxing and therapeutic. The result is almost always discovering they are monster players when I'm done setting them up, and before I realize it, I've spent and entire evening and night still playing the freshly resurrected shred machine. The amusing downside is that if I bought the neglected guitar specifically to flip, it's hard to let them go after I'm done the work because they play and look so great!

Same thing with me dude. I love getting a good deal on what appears to be an "ugly duckling" that really only needs some TLC. I always say I'm gonna flip them, and somehow I find somewhere to put them...