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Does rust on the bridge add character?

clean, replace, or leave it.

  • clean the rust off

  • replace the bridge

  • leave it be

Results are only viewable after voting.
#44
Mantis Tobaggan said:
Yikes, thanks for the answer. Sounds like a little extreme. I am leaning towards cleaning it.
Click to expand...

To clean it a soft bristle brush and some solvent/lubricant like WD-40 would get the worst of it, but once rust has a toe hold it is the gift that just keeps on giving. You could dab it with a bit of clear nail polish or some other clear coat and it would hold off the rust but when light reflects off the bridge it will stand out like a sore thumb. You could also just dab a little 3 in one or similar light machine oil and it will work for quite a while before it dries up and would need to be reapplied. Last of all, you could clean it off and hit it with some Ospho (Ospho Rust Treatment - Since 1947 ) and you will never have to worry about rust again. I've used it on salt water boat trailers eat up with rust and it works really well to kill the rust. Only prob is it will turn the raw metal black, but black would not look much different than brown and it would solve your rust problem.

If it was mine I'd take it off the bass, pull the saddles and dry brush the rusty spots with a stiff toothbrush, then wipe it lightly with 3 in 1 and forget about it.
 
#45
As long as it's from your sweat, it's cool. If it's from some other sweaty bass player, it would skeave me out. Unless it was from some famous sweaty bass player, that would be cool.
 
#51
I'd take the bridge off and use some naval jelly pn it. As it's pitted some already, it'll still have some character, but it'll look a bit better and slow the rusting process quite a bit.
 
#53
I can't for the life of me imagine walking into any real metal shop holding a little bass bridge and asking them to please make this shiny again, let alone expecting that whatever poor fool actually gets the assignment to do it is going to do it right...at least for any reasonable price. Can you imagine a guy rechroming bike parts and fenders all day and someone hands him this little thing with tiny springs and screws? I would just feel embarrassed asking for something like that...unless I knew someone with access to a shop that could handle it and they offered (even then...meh). I'd just as soon leave it on or spend the money on a replacement.
 
#59
I say leave it unless it's affecting the function of the bridge. I'm in a similar boat with a cheaper bass. The bridge on a 96 MIM jazz I have has had rust on it for a while. The whole bass is beat to hell and I've been replacing parts on it for the past year. Anyway the rusted bridge that fit the look of the bass has a saddle that no longer is holding in place. So replace one saddle and have young shiny and it's three rusty uncles or just replace the bridge and call it a day. I actually have spare saddles and a bridge sitting in my office from other projects, I've been stricken with laziness.
 

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