Greetings List, I went down to a town north of San Diego over the weekend to evaluate a 2004 Kohler & Campbell KGC650 for possible purchase by a client of mine. The home is literally across the street from the beach. What I found was a level of salt air corrosion and rust on the strings that I might expect to see on a 50 year old piano. All bare wire strings were completely orange. The bass strings had discolored and had a splotchy pattern on the copper. If the client purchases it, he is interested in having it completely restrung. In addition to the strings, I noticed a surface corrosion (speckling, for lack of a better word...) on the bridge pins, hitch pins, and to a lesser extent on the tuning pins. Also, most of the "brass" screws had discoloration, along with what looked like verdigris on the pedals. The sostenuto pedal had a plastic cover still on it, and under the cover it was bright brass. The home had a humidifier which kept the house and piano at around 50% humidity all the time. The regulation, cabinet, hammers, action, soundboard, etc. are all in good condition. Pretty much anything that wasn't made of metal was just fine. My plan is to remove all the rusty strings and use that opportunity to give the rest of it a good de-rusting. My question is... What is the best way (chemical, steel wool, treatments, etc.) to remove the rust from all the pins, etc.? Once cleaned of all visible corrosion, will it have a propensity to rust again, faster than would normally be expected? Is there anything hidden that I should be looking for?
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