<html> At 08:01 AM 12/29/2001 -0500, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite cite>Phil;  Rust in your area is a fact of life and the best thing to do, in most cases, is to leave it alone. The polished surface on music wire has 'some' inherent rust resistance but this is a long way from being 'rust-proff'. What you have is "Polita" which has been used for many years in rust removal. Although it works well in rust removal it also leaves a more scratched/etched surface and inevitably leads to more rusting and this sooner than later.  Some of the Scotch Brite© products will do a better job and leave less of a mess. I prefer the 'white' and/or 'grey' pads for this work....actually I prefer not to mess with rust at all since it needs to be in 'very' advanced stages before there is any tonal degradation anyway...... my view. Jim Bryant (FL) </blockquote> If the customer wants cleaner strings, use grey Scotch Brite.  Steel wool makes too much of a mess. The plain wire under the bass strings is in the shadows and you can get by without rubbing them. The polita can be used for stubborn spots. (If the bass strings could use twisting, she may be better off with new strings altogether). Don't forget to dry rub the bass strings as well. Now comes the ambitious part...a wire wheel chucked into an electric drill will get the bulk around the tuning pins but you will need a Dremel tool and a fistful the small wire wheels to get in and around the tuning pins and hitch pin area. Of course you can sell her a string cover to prevent moisture settling on the strings and a DC to keep things drier. Is she prepared to spend over $500. to get her old wires spiffed-up? Regards, Jon Page,   piano technician Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. <a href="mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net"= eudora="autourl">mailto:</a>jonpage<a href="mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net= " eudora="autourl">@mediaone.net</a> <a href="http://www.stanwoodpiano.com/"= eudora="autourl">http://www.stanwoodpiano.com</a> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</html>