I am wondering about cleaning & polishing brass pedals, faceplate, screws, etc. from a 1930s Steinway S. I know brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, and that the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties (thank you, Wikipedia). I know copper is a very soft metal. Is this relevant when choosing how to polish brass piano parts? I¹ve generally used Noxon and a cloth to clean brass or nickel-plated parts, or to polish key pins. Now I¹m wondering: Are the pedals and faceplate a softer metal than, say, the wire bristles of a wheel? Will the [steel?] bristles scratch the brass? Should I stick to a cotton polishing/buffing wheel with a compound or rouge? The wire seemed to clean the inside of the plate just fine, and it didn¹t seem to affect the surface (the brass seems pretty hard), but I don¹t want to scratch the front unnecessarily. Would you treat nickel-plated pedals differently? Finally, I¹ve read about but never tried, coating with a clear lacquer after polishing. Do you recommend this for pedal parts, including rods? I have some Minwax Clear Aerosol Lacquer (³Clear Gloss²) in a spray can. Would this be the right stuff, say one light coat? All suggestions and info appreciated! BTW, this 70+ year-old piano lives in a school practice room, if that makes any difference. Paul Milesi, RPT Washington, DC (202) 667-3136 E-mail: paul at pmpiano.com Website: http://www.pmpiano.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100110/7c26bb39/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC