Rusty / stiff tuners on headstock

[Koosh]

I have a classical Yamaha which I have not touched since I enlisted till now. The metal parts of the knobs at the head of the guitar is now covered with this white layer of "something".. Its like when you don't use your USB cable for very long and you get this white stuff on it that makes the surface "un-smooth". So I didn't even try turning the knobs on my guitar. Even if I could still turn it, I would want to clean it off for the sake of aesthetics.

I believe this is usually at the stage just before a bad rust takes over. So hopefully it is still salvagable?

How should I go about cleaning it? Regular oil and cloth?

 

[Nicholasim]

i believe its oxidation taking place. Just wondering, how u know if its stiff or not if you never tried turning them? Hahha.

Anyway, just do a quick search on google and you'll find how to remove it.

 

[Koosh]

Haha assumption..just like how your USB or any head that turns like this, becomes hard to plug into the port. So I assume it would be hard to turn too lol.

 

[relinquish69]

spam WD40. If that does not help, get a replacement set of tuners from Music Theme.