HOW TO CLEAN UP AND RESTORE A VINTAGE GUITAR
This ES-330 was recently acquired from its second owner, Paddy Collins, whose dad bought it for him from Snell’s music shop in Swansea, UK back in 1967. Paddy’s bandmate in the early days was Mike Japp, who later played with Marmalade and Joe Brown’s band and went on to write songs with Paul Stanley, among others. When Paddy switched to drums, Mike would often play this ES-330 and according to Paddy, he was the last person to string the guitar up.
Sadly, Mike Japp passed away in 2012, so these strings do need changing. But that’s the least of it–Paddy stopped playing a long time ago and the guitar has spent most of the last 30 years stored in its case. The upshot is that the finish is in decent shape, but the lacquer is very dull and dirty and all the nickel parts have oxidised.
Although some vintage-guitar owners are reluctant to clean their guitars, I prefer them when they look cared for and feel nice. I would make a distinction between dirt and patina and, on a practical level, I find guitars play better and strings last longer when fingerboards
