Hello MMD.  In January this year (MMD 090107) I enquired about methods
of applying a protective coating to a tracker bar.  I received several
useful replies and I believe I have thanked all those respondents.
However, it occurs to me that it may be a good idea to record here
what I actually did.

I ended up using conventional brass polish everywhere, despite some
suggestions of trying polishing lint.  The major part of the cleanup
job was to polish 277 nipples (this player has a transposing mechanism
behind the tracker bar) and I could see that lint would get caught
between them in a big way.  So I used strips of cotton cloth and
Brasso and, yes, it was very tedious.

Prior to the start of the polishing job I gave the tracker bar an
overnight soak in petrol (that's gasoline in the U.S.), to try to soften
the crystallized bits of rubber tubing that still clung to the nipples.
As far as I could tell this didn't help much at all; I won't bother
another time.

I didn't try to polish each nipple to a brilliant shine.  My main aim
was to end up with a smooth surface, ensuring an airtight fit when the
tracker tubing is applied.  I gave the mating surfaces of the transposer
the merest rub over, because they were not at all corroded and because
I didn't want to grind them out of flatness.

When all the polishing was done, and bearing in mind that Brasso is
said to be acidic, I soaked the tracker bar and the two halves of the
transposer in a solution of baking soda in hot water, rinsed each piece
off under the hot water tap and then dried them thoroughly with a hair
dryer.

The four steel flat springs that clamp the transposer halves together
received a cleaning and a coat of Feronite rust converter (not that
they were very rusty, in fact) and some fresh black paint.

Acting on the advice of a local restorer, I applied a very thin coating
of Vaseline to the mating surfaces of the transposer before reassembling
it.  Suspecting that a good deal of that Vaseline was nevertheless was
going to end up in the holes, I worked the two surfaces back and forth
a few times, matched up the holes, and then passed a thick, hairy,
bootlace though each hole.

I must have done some good; the bootlace, initially white, was anything
but by the time I had finished.  (I had already passed a little brush,
intended for cleaning hair out of an electric razor, through each
nipple before doing anything.)

So far, none of this has anything to do with applying a protective
surface coating to the front surface of the tracker bar.  I decided
to adopt a minimalist approach, and covered the section of the bar
where the roll slides with masking tape.  Murphy's Law fell apart here;
the width of my masking tape, 2 cm, was exactly the right size.  I then
sprayed the exposed brass with 3M 3900 Clear Protective Coating.

I began polishing the two tracking ears that are an Aeolian speciality,
in order to give then a coating of 3M 3900 too.  I very quickly realized
that I was polishing off a perfectly good coating of varnish in order
to replace it, so I desisted.  The ears show virtually no corrosion at
all, so I simply cleaned up the little springs, and replaced the
leather pads.

Halfway through the composition of this harangue I glanced up towards
the top of the Eudora email window and saw that the Eudora chili pepper
symbol had appeared; in fact there were two of them!  When I removed
that dreadful word, nipple, the chilies disappeared.  I've re-inserted
the nipples, in the hope that I won't corrupt MMD readers too much.

John Phillips in Hobart, Tasmania

 [ At http://www.eudora.com/email/features/moodwatch.html is this
 [ explanation of the Eudora chilies: "MoodWatch won't stop you from
 [ acting irresponsibly in email, it will just let you know when you
 [ might be about to send a message you'll regret. ... [3 chilies means]
 [ Whoa, this is the kind of thing that might get your keyboard washed
 [ out with soap!"  -- Robbie