<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=windows-1250"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Several well-intended "helpful" responses follow:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>> >Great picture, = Terry!   My guess is the centers were treated with barbeque <BR>> >sauce.<BR>> ><BR>> >(Always glad to be helpful.)> <BR>> <BR>> By = golly, I think you're right! Maybe an Alka-Seltzer flush is in order.<BR></FONT></DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>> On a more = sherioush note ... I wonder if someone "lubed" those centers with<BR>> something that = drew dust, gathered goo, magnetized mucous, invited ich,<BR>> captured crud, = collected crap, and generally glommed onto globs of gluey<BR>> gunk.</FONT> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've tried all these wonderful = suggestions (I do have a sense of humor and enjoy these clever responses - especially when = they are balanced with something useful  ;-). But my center pins still = look like the photo below:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="cid:00ab01c4ffa3$948e1c70$fbb62341@youro0kwkw9jwc" = align=baseline border=0></FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Stuff wipes off with a bit of effort = and yields a nice clean shiny center pin - I don't think the pins are corroding or = loosing their plating (like I've heard can happen on some Samicks). = </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So, my questions remain as follows:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- What is this stuff?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- If I simply repin, can I not presume = that the goop will come back (I suppose it would be a good thing to ream up = a pin size or two)?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- Do I need to rebush (like the US is = doing today - oh, no I couldn't do that!)?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- If I need to repin and rebush all the = jacks and wip levers, seems to me I'm already pretty close to the point where it = would be cheaper to just install new wippens - what say yee?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks for any = CONSTRUCTIVE input.   ;-)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Terry = Farrell</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>