Could it be the guitar? I own a Guild Starfire that i had found in the basement of a friends house. it had been there, (in the case, strung, under a pile of rubble (some bricks, sheet rock, dust...) under a table) for about 15+ years. it needed to cleaned, restrung....that's it.. i works great. the most wonderful thing about it was that she GAVE it to me. her brother was in a band that many years ago, stashed it there, and forgot about it.