Patrick Boeckstijns enquires about removing rust from the rods
connecting the control levers to the player mechanism.  If the rods are
plated, and are only lightly pitted with rust, a rust-dissolver gel or
fluid should work well, as long as it is washed off afterwards, and the
rod is then carefully dried.  I don't have any strong feelings about a
clear varnish over the top.

However; if the plated rods are badly rusted, Patrick, I suggest that
your best bet would be to take the rods to a metal replater.  I did
this to all the rods in my 65-note pushup, and had them replated with
nickel.  They looked superb afterwards.  As I understand it,
electroplaters cover steel with nickel first, before they put on a
coating of chrome.  But in the heyday of player pianos chrome plating
wasn't common, so I requested the platers to stop at nickel.

If the rods aren't plated, then I would abrade as much rust off as
possible, use a rust-dissolver, clean that off and then, depending on
the original appearance of the rods, apply a protective coating.

As for rusted wood screws inside a player action, I try to give them a
fairly thorough derusting, because it's difficult to find replacement
screws here in Australia.  I think the screw threads in U.S. and Oz
differ somewhat.  So here's what I do:

I remove as much rust as possible by mechanical means, which mostly
involves a wire brush and emery paper.  The really small screws are
impossible to tackle individually; it's helpful to put them in a small
jar with a screw-topped lid and shake until you are bored silly.  I
have tried putting the jar into the jaws of a lathe which acts as a
make-shift tumbler, but not everyone has access to such a luxury.

When as much rust as patience permits is removed I dunk the screws in a
jar of phosphoric acid rust-dissolver. After the appropriate time I
remove them and rinse thoroughly with hot water, followed by a blow-dry
with my wife's hair dryer.  An important move at this stage is to put
the dryer back where you found it, to avoid future trouble.

As soon as the screws are dry I dip them in thinned-down zinc chromate
metal primer and lay them out on a sheet of paper.  After a couple of
minutes I move each screw a little, away from the big glob of paint
that has drained off it, and maybe give it a second move soon after
that.

After a 24-hour dry I arrange the screws in rows on strips of board
with lots of holes drilled in them, to let the paint harden off for
a couple of weeks, before storing them in carefully labelled jars.
(Well, that's how it should be done.)

No doubt a good deal of the primer rubs off when the screw is
reinserted, but at least it's rubbing off onto the rusty wood inside
the screw hole.

Recently I've been using a rust converter called "Ferronite", which is
made in Australia, and contains extracts from the bark of wattle trees.
The manufacturers claim that you can coat a piece of rusty iron with
Ferronite and leave it out in the weather for 6 months before you need
to do anything else to it, like paint it or give it more Ferronite.
I've been using it on rusty piano roll spool ends before giving them a
coat of black model enamel and am very happy with the results, although
of course I can't see 50 years into the future.

There's a caveat on all the above remarks.  I have rebuilt three player
actions; I'm in no way a professional.  If anyone can shoot me down
we'll all learn something.

John Phillips in Hobart, Tasmania.