Rusty pick up pole pieces. Progress

[karlfer]

Precision bass special, deluxe series 2002, one of the last passives made.
P/J pups, both with rust on pole pieces. Doing one's nut in!

I'm thinking cotton buds, with wd40 sprayed on them , so I can apply where I want, not over the whole bloody bass (DIY = Destroy It Yourself).

Am I certifiable or might it work?

Answers thanked for in advance

Cheers,
Karl.

Edited October 2, 2015 by karlfer

[Dandelion]

Fine wire wool, remove the covers first though.

[Norris]

Or a Dremmel to polish them up a bit. I think I'd avoid WD40 as it might get into the windings. Maybe a light dab of wax based furniture polish might help stop it coming back. I'd try to avoid anything containing solvents

Edited September 24, 2015 by Norris

[karlfer]

Thanks guys.
I don't have a Dremmel, is there an accessory that can be used on a normal cordless drill, at very slow speed?

[gary mac]

I sorted one out with a little rub over with Duraglit.

[paul_5]

[quote name='Dandelion' timestamp='1443021168' post='2871534']
Fine wire wool, remove the covers first though.
[/quote]

This.

[Twigman]

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1443080650' post='2871940']
I think I'd avoid WD40 as it might get into the windings.
[/quote]
Will not do any harm whatsoever

[Dad3353]

Steel wool may provoke ferrous filings, which could be difficult to get rid from a magnetic item. A green 'Scotchbright'-type of scourer maybe preferable..? (Other scouring pads are available...)

[Grangur]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1443098992' post='2872184']
Steel wool may provoke ferrous filings, which could be difficult to get rid from a magnetic item. A green 'Scotchbright'-type of scourer maybe preferable..? (Other scouring pads are available...)
[/quote]
This. Or metal polish, chrome cleaner of some description.

If you use wire-wool you'll never get rid of the bits of metal.

[Dandelion]

Yes if course. Go scotch guard route.

[karlfer]

Many thanks guys.
A few years back, I had a Mex Precision Bass Special, Deluxe Series. They were only made 1999-2002, their predecessor was the California, their successor the current active Mex Deluxe.
These basses are P/J pups, Jazz neck, Precision body, passive. Few who have had them dislike them.
Stupidly I sold mine and I've only seen a couple come up over the last two years, both on FEEBay, at daft(£600 ish) prices.
Anyhoo, managed to snag a black/maple/gold one on FEEBay last week, at a slightly more reasonable price.
Turned up and it's a bit of a filthy, life evolving in parts, beater. It's obviously had a LOT of play, but it's light, sounds fantastic and is very versatile.
Most of the sorting, I know how to do, in the main part because of brilliant guys like you lot, on Basschat, offering advice.

The rust on pole pieces, I didn't know and was kinda thinking out loud with the cotton buds and wd40.

My thanks (yet again) to the Basschat massive

[Dad3353]

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:167485]

How about some before-after photos then, eh..? No..? Too late..? D'oh..!

[iiipopes]

Have you tried a pencil eraser? That is the easiest. I do NOT recommend steel wool, because the filings that drop off can work into the coil and abrade it. Otherwise, the best thing to do is just leave it be. If the rust comes off with a pencil eraser, then you can coat the tops of the magnet poles with clear (or colors, for that matter - George Harrison's "Rocky" Strat) fingernail enamel to preserve them.

[karlfer]

Not tried anything yet and won't be doing so until the middle of next week.

This is due to impending royal visit of my 83 year old mother. And this 57 year old having a few days of being treated like a 5 year old. Don't do that! What would your father say! You're not going to a gig dressed like that! A R***enbacker for a Led Zeppelin number????

My cup runneth over

[3below]

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1443119691' post='2872458']
....................
This is due to impending royal visit of my 83 year old mother. And this 57 year old having a few days of being treated like a 5 year old.......

[/quote]

A very familiar situation, replace mother with MIL....

Rusty polepieces, why are you worrying? there is a long way to go
[attachment=201489:Rory-Gallagher-Against-The-Grain.jpg]

Edited September 24, 2015 by 3below

[ubit]

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1443098713' post='2872181']

Will not do any harm whatsoever
[/quote]

WD40 is electrical windings friend!!!!

[HowieBass]

I'm wondering if it'd be safe to try some sort of rust curer dabbed on with a cotton bud after you've rubbed off the surface layer? You'd end up with some dark areas as the remaining rust reacts but at least you'd kill it.

[karlfer]

So, a week of soaking, odd bits of scrubbing and it's on it's way.
You can see the screws at the side of the P pickup, all the hardware was like that. I'm going to replace those screws, they just won't clean up.
I've got most of it off the pole pieces, mainly due to putting wd40 on with the cotton buds, leaving then very fine wet and dry.
Saddles have been soaking for a week but nowhere near clean enough.
I've decided to just keep doing a little bit more on the saddles and pole pieces every week. It's laborious and I have the attention of a dead gnat.
Gotta say though, it set up very easily tonight and will eventually be one of my two gigging basses.
Cheers,
Karl.

[URL=http://s1354.photobucket.com/user/Karl_Altdorfer/media/008_zpsl1vmkfbp.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/q693/Karl_Altdorfer/008_zpsl1vmkfbp.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://s1354.photobucket.com/user/Karl_Altdorfer/media/006_zpsddhovwku.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/q693/Karl_Altdorfer/006_zpsddhovwku.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

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[URL=http://s1354.photobucket.com/user/Karl_Altdorfer/media/003_zpssvuqmzob.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/q693/Karl_Altdorfer/003_zpssvuqmzob.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[Roland Rock]

Funnily enough, I've been cleaning my trusty 78P ready for sale today.

I scraped rust from the polepieces with a 3mm chisel, then wiped with GT85. Not spotless, but much better. The pup screws had some rust which I partially removed with a wire brush and then wiped with GT85.

Here's the BBOT after cleaning. I used abrasive paste autosol to help clean the parts up. The grub screws were too small and fiddly to do properly though:

[IMG]http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg580/christopher_brown14/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-10/20151002_150339_zps6l4ovezj.jpg[/IMG]

Edited October 2, 2015 by Roland Rock

[karlfer]

Done a better job than me Mr Rock.
Some good tips there as well, thank 'ee sir!