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At what age would you categorically say, without even having to look at a piano, that it is due for a new set of strings?

I have a 29-year-old Yamaha G5 with the original strings on. It hasn't been played too much, by the looks of the action, but nearly all of the strings are showing some rust.

Is a light sanding on the strings worth a shot? Would you consider sanding the plain wire and replacing the wound wire, or is that akin to putting new tires on the front of a car and leaving the old ones on the back?

An eraser or at the most some fine steelwool.

If you are going to restring the bass, do the whole piano.

That eraser works just fine along the tops of the strings, but... the sides and the undersides? Have you found any cloth coarse enough, or sandpaper fine enough, that I could wrap it around the string and so get the other surfaces? I'd like to try this before springing for new strings.

Apart from spoiling the look of the piano, does the rust actually affect the vibration of the strings?

white noise, less sustain, less pure tone, because of the hardening and the rust.

Particularely with the Suzuki strings, they can be changed with much benefit (while new ones does not seem to differ much than Roslau apparently, many told me that Roslau was now on the Yamaha C series, while it is not the case.
I guess that one have even "heard "the difference ! not easy to tell ! Now that I know, I will listen and find subtle differnces, but a Yamaha technician (at the importers' show room) told me he used Roslau on a recent C that had to be restringed and could not notice seomthing new.

Greetings,
I have a 1916 Steinway O with original strings. It has less false beats, and better sustain, than a new piano. It has been used in a professional jazz club for years and has had a lot of recording done on it. I wouldn't change those strings for anything.
I have cleaned strings with steel wool and though they looked nicer, I heard no difference at all, so I wonder why one would want to go to the trouble to clean the underside of the wire???
Bass strings are a whole different thing. They can die early, and replacing the bass strings on pianos that were otherwise sounding fine can make a big improvement.
Regards,

Something to do with the original wire quality, by chance, Ed ?

For the cleaning of the upperside, of course we can't even clean the strings under the bass strings, sometime they even tone less good after the cleaning. I clean only in case light corrosion, on a regular basis BTW , but not rusty strings.

1916 with original strings, Ed? For sure? That is crazy...

That's a good point, Kamin. I can't even clean any farther down than middle C because of the overlapping bass. Seems there is very limited use for this sort of cleaning, isn't there? Still, it can't hurt to try. I will see if I can find the right material, and then I will give it a go. 2000 grit sand paper, maybe?

"1916 with original strings, Ed? For sure? That is crazy..."

I don't think it is crazy. Those strings were made with virgin steel, before "recycling" had been applied to the metal world. They are great sounding strings. I also have a 1885 upright with original strings that sings cleanly and fully.
Under heavy use, I see far more modern strings break than the old ones. sounds backwards, but we have a couple of older Steinways at the school here, and they don't lose strings, but all the new pianos do.
Regards,

For what it's worth:

I just did a 300 cent (yes a m3) pitch raise on an old Whitney Upright. I was hoping the strings would start breaking so I wouldn't have to do anymore work on it and the owner would take my advice and dump it. The billings flanges all need to be repined. It has a 3/4 green painted plate, a boomerang bass bridge and high quality ivory on most of the keys. I don’t know just how old it might be. To my surprise, the first pull to A440 resulted in only a 50 cent drop and a 20 cent overpull on the second pitch raise brought it right on pitch. No strings broke, there is plenty of elasticity left in them, the tone is decent even with the hammer mating problems and the pnblock has a nice controllable feel to it. I don't think it has been doped. The tone of the bass strings is another story, of course.

What I wish I knew is whether the strings retained their tone because of their quality, or because it might have been allowed to drop in pitch and the strings never became work hardened.