I recently bought an old Ludwig universal speed master pedal, and I'm in the process of cleaning it up. The beater is really dirty and there's some rust stains on it. Is there a way to clean it without ruining it? I was thinking soaking it in something? Any help would be appreciated.
Here's some pictures. It seems to be one solid piece of felt.
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I have a few beaters in the same condition.
I was wondering if OxiClean would work. Looking
forward to hearing other suggestions or proven methods.
I can only tell you the results of my experiments with the same issue...you can decide for yourself if you want to go through with this procedure....it worked for me.
take the beater and soak it overnight completely submerged in water with a few tablespoons of chlorine bleach. The next day dump the water and use plain old fresh water on a stove and boil the beater for a good twenty minutes. Let it sit around for a couple of hours or days to dry out then.....take a piece of scrap wood and drive some skinny little finish nails through the wood letting them stick out the other side as far as you can up to about a half an inch...now use this tool you just fashioned to stab into the ball all around so that it sort of separates the fibers and fluffs the thing up a bit just like a piano tuner does to piano hammers to set the action just right. ( you can also use a darning needle held with a pair of vice grips) Then when you get the ball in the desired shape, remembering that felt is actually just wool you can also take a piece of 80 grit sandpaper and sand off all the remaining fuzz and funkyness. The chlorine is just to kill mold and remove basement odors and such, don't expect it to turn white again, however the feel of the beater will be good as new or better when you are done.Good Luck. Have fun.
Glen
Thanks so much, thats exactly the information I needed. I'll post some pictures when I'm done. I can't thank you enough.
Worked quite well, yes It's not exactly white, but It's much softer than before and alot cleaner. I'm really satisfied with the results. Thanks!
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did you strip all the red paint from the pedal frame?
mike
Actually no, the pedal was in rough shape, all the paint was gone except for little specks and chips here and there, so I just polished the metal for now. I might paint it in the future. It works great though!
