Help! Rusted pickups. Maintanence.

[cky4ever]

Hi. Im asking this for my friend whom I sold my first SR5HH to. Both pickups pole pieces have completely rusted and are solid brown almost.

I dont think this would affect the sound, but I honestly dont know. So first question is does it? Is there anyway to restore the pole pieces to their original state?

Anyone with the same issues or who has some way of avoiding this Id be glad to hear it...

 

[hankSRay]

Prevention is the key here, I use clear nailpolish on the pickup poles of my MusicMan basses. The rust wont effect the tone, just the looks. I've heard people saying to use erasers, q-tips, wd-40, sandpaper. Personally I never got to that point so I dont know what works. I'd just leave well enough alone.

 

[Zippydog]

Try a good silver or metal cleaner/polish.
Not sure if it will cut rust or not, but it sure cleaned up the pickups on a used bass I bought. Two coats got 'em bright as new. Let the polish/cleaner soak a bit to be sure you give it time to work.

Good luck and let us know what ends up working for you.

 

[Moondog]

Bombs Away Metal Polish . . . the absolute best:
here

 

[Brim]

After you clean them, throw some clear nail polish on top to protect them from toxic sweat.