Rusty and dull bass strings

[Claudia Cimenti]

Hello List,

What does an aspiring tech do who has nothing to lose? Experiment!!

My old "guinea pig" upright has dead bass strings. Totally rusted. When you 
play them they just go "duh!"... I tried the "twist 'em" technique, but it 
did not help much.

So tonight I took a bass string off and cleaned in CLR (yep, the "Calcium / 
Lime / Rust" cleaner you can get at stores such as Walgreens). The outcome? 
A shiny brand-new looking string that goes "roaaaaaaarrrr!".

On top of all that, I'm getting restringing experience. I'm happy.

I realize that this is a time-consuming thing, since you have to remove the 
strings, but in a pinch, it beats buying new bass strings if you don't want 
to invest lots of $$ into an old piano. Or if like me, you're learning.

... just wanted to share.

Regards,
/Claudia

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Claudia Cimenti
Northborough, Massachusetts
claudia_cimenti@mail.com
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