Just so the newbees know what is going on. If you put on any bug spray, DON"T go near your instruments! The Active Ingredient in the stuff MELTS laquer in a big way!. So if you are at any Fests this summer, and someone asks to play your axe, ask them if they have used any bug spray in the last 24 hours. Every year it seems, I get some poor mook coming to my Instrument Repair shop asking what the heck happened to his prize axe over the weekend. JUst so all of you know!

Thanks for the warning. I wonder how bug spay interacts with varnish; but not enough to try it.

Peace,
Rip

This is good advice, for sure. It turns out that Cutters offers another insect repellent that does not contain DEET, the damaging chemical in question. There's information about it here and here.

I've been using this stuff for about three years. It's as effective as the stuff with DEET, and while I'm still careful and have not poured it on my guitars, all the tests show it doesn't interact with plastics, etc. So I feel a lot better about using it. Worth a try. No financial interest, etc.

B

Having lived years in mosquito heaven, I suggest: wear a hat, and a long sleeved shirt (cotton tee if it's summer and hot), long pants, and use the spray version of deep woods off only on the exposed parts (neck, ears) and wash your hand before you play. If you can't play outside on a summer's eve, what's the point? At least we've controller malaria.... or have we screwed that up, too? Play on, friends. tom

Thank you B. Just picked up a couple of bottles of Cutter Advanced Picaridin Formula per your suggestion. The local Walgreen‘s has them on sale for $3.89.

Warren

quote:

At least we've controller malaria.... or have we screwed that up, too?

Kerry, good heads-up. Master sonoman, yes malaria is under control though once you get it you've got it for life. In a great book called Seeds of Change, Henry Hobhouse claims that if cinchona bark (quinine source, malaria drug) hadn't been discovered, the population of India today would have been about 75 million (instead of the actual 1.1 billion). No call centers, no cheap programmers, perhaps little EIR. The world would have been different.