[pianotech] Piano rusting at the beach

[Rob McCall]

I forgot to sign it... I don't want to be aNoN... :-)

Rob McCall

McCall Piano Service, LLC
www.mccallpiano.com
Murrieta, CA
951-698-1875

On Feb 28, 2011, at 12:22 , Rob McCall wrote:

> 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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