Hypothetical: oceanic shipping accident Squiers?

[invisible man]

After learning about thousands of Asian made sneakers being lost at sea and set adrift in ocean currents, and their landfall being used to track said currents, I had a fantasy about the same thing happening with Asian made Squiers. How great would that be? Thousands of surf green and sonic blue Squier offsets (among other models) with shipwreck relic finishes washing up on the shore to be collected and played. Please theorize below if the poly finish would be sufficient to protect the wood for months at sea. Posted in the Mod folder because I assume the electronics would be shot in any such guitar, maybe other repairs needed. I bet necks would get pretty thrashed, unsealed rosewood would swell; maybe just bodies and pickguards would be salvageable. What about unsealed neck pockets? Maybe that would doom the bodies to water logging and warping too. Maybe not!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansa_Carrier

[sirspens]

The neck pocket is never finished and would be your weak point.

The neck would likely not absorb any water, but the tuning machines would weight it down, pulling the neck pocket under water (if the bridge and electronics weren't already heavy enough to do so). Basswood (since most Asian made offsets are basswood) would soak water up like a sponge. Once the basswood is saturated, the bridge and tuning machines would weigh down the body enough to no longer be buoyant.

My guess, they'd all be sinking the the ocean floor within a few hours. Let's not hope for that.

[spacecadet]

Nothing would be salvageable. Salt water is extremely destructive. It's not like fresh water.

Probably the only thing that *would* survive intact would be the finish. You'd end up with a pristine plastic shell with a bunch of wood pulp, mold and algae inside it. And some rust attached to the outside where hardware used to be.

[invisible man]

I agree the unfinished neck pocket would be the weakest point. I wonder how a set neck or a neck-through instrument would fare? I'm not sure if those are produced in the relevant countries. I suppose one could do a custom build designed to withstand ocean conditions as driftwood, with a solar powered gps tracker maybe?

[Fiddy]

The unfinished fretboard would be a weak point too.

[andy_tchp]

The unfinished fretboard would be a weak point too.

They are even before being immersed in the ocean

[Fiddy]

The frets would protect the fretboard from any algae or any wood eating sea creature.

[fisonic]

These guys would be happy.



Guitarfish