Believe it or not, the board on this Stingray was in a similar condition when I bought it. I used cymbal cleaner and a soft cloth - came out really well as shown below.
To paraphrase Samwise Gamgee, "this shows there's still some good in this world and it's worth fighting for."
I'm proud to be associated with this community. I applaud each and every one of you.
I do. I took delivery of a brand-new CS Fender back in the early 90s and it had more than one dead spot, so Fender had CS-fitted it with a gold (coloured) Fathead. It worked well with the FH fitted, but was awful if played with it removed.
I have a couple of basses with flats which have been there for 25 years +
Depending on rate of gigging, most round-wound-fitted basses have strings of under two months.