[pianotech] blackening rusty tuning pins

Douglas Gregg classicpianodoc at gmail.com
Thu Feb 2 07:00:58 MST 2012


Wim wrote

Cleaning rust off the strings is fine, for cosmetic purposes. But the
main problem with rust on the strings is at the pressure points and
the strings, like at the agraffs, the capo bars, the tuning pins,
bridge pins, etc. That is where the string breaks. So cleaning the
pins and strings is nice, but it won't prevent the string from
breaking.

Wim
Clearly, I can't do much about rusty strings when I find them except
to try to stop the rust from continuing. In most cases, I have caught
it before strings begin to break. The best I can do then is to arrest
the rust so it does not progress to the point of breakage, or at least
not as quickly.

Besides the obvious cosmetic effect, stopping the rust from
progressing is beneficial.  Converting the rust to iron tannin and
cleaning the strings with a rust inhibiting oil pretty much stops the
progression of the rust. So I think it is worth it.  It makes the
tuning pins look nice too.

For more rust control-see attached photo of Zerust.
In many cases, I also put a Zerust capsule in the piano that is
guaranteed by the company to arrest further rust for two years in a
closed space of 30 cubic feet.. You should get some of these where you
live.  It releases an odorless gas from a foam
block in a plastic housing.The capsules are pretty cheap insurance(
under $10 from Amazon). Ihave put quite a few in pianos for clients
who are living on or very
near the water where the salt air really penetrates into the house. I
can say that I
have not had any further string breakages in those pianos.
However, the numbers are still a bit small to be statistically significant.

Doug Gregg
Classic piano Doc
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