Advice on cleaning

[zaculus]

I have a Bach Strad which is silver lacquered (at least I assume, as opposed to silver plated). Anyway, I purchased it used and some of the lacquer around the valves and other areas has vanished leaving just the raw brass. It's also a bit black on parts of the silver. I was wondering, what's the best way to go about cleaning the black stuff? I was browsing a bit and saw something about aluminum and salt, but I was a bit concerned since I have some of the brass showing. I've attached some pictures to give you an idea. Thanks for any suggestions! And side question, do you think it's worth stripping away the rest of the lacquer? (I'd of course go into a shop to do this, unless it's simple).

[steevo]

Your trumpet is silver plated, and you can see where the plating has worn through.

You can address the black spots you discussed is tarnished silver, and can be addressed with silver polish.

You may want to consider to have your trumpet refinished.

[khedger]

Tarni shield

[Crazy Finn]

Most silver trumpets are silver plated. Very, very few have any additional lacquer on top of that.

As was said above, your Strad is silver plated. Silver Bachs do not have lacquer.

The black spots and areas are silver tarnish. They can be removed with silver polish (which removes it by removing a little bit of tarnished silver to expose shiny non-tarnished silver).

The brass colored sports are - as you said - spots were the silver plating has worn off and exposed the raw brass beneath. There's no way to treat this other than have it replated with silver. It's not a simple procedure, and one that many places send to Anderson Plating in Elkhart, Indiana. There is prep work needed prior to replating.

There is also the chemical method of turning silver tarnish back into plain silver via hot water and baking (soda, powder?). You'll have to google that. It does work, it shouldn't effect the raw brass portions, though you should definitely do it in a well-ventilated area as the by-product is lots of sulfur released into the air.
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LA Benge 3X Bb Trumpet
Selmer Radial Bb Trumpet
Yamaha 6335S Bb Trumpet
Besson 709 Bb Trumpet
Bach 184L Bb Cornet
Yamaha 731 Bb Flugelhorn

[Brad361]

And if you did decide to have the remaining silver PLATING removed, it’s definitely not something you could do yourself. Your choices really are leave it alone, (clean the tarnish if you want to with something like Tarni Shield), have it replated or have the plating stripped (again, not something your average music store repair shop could do).

Brad
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When asked if he always sounds great:
"I always try, but not always, because the horn is merciless, unpredictable and traitorous." - Arturo Sandoval

[zaculus]

Thanks for all of the tips! I’ll go ahead just remove tarnish for now. I’ll look into replating it in the future. Any advice on that? I’ve heard good things about Anderson Plating, anyone know an approximate price if I were to have them do the “ready to plate” service as well as the plating?

[Christian K. Peters]

Hello all,
Anderson's does great work. You may have to go through a repair shop for their services. I have talked to the folks there and they have been helpful. I think the only plating that has a clear lacquer over it is Nickel...I may be wrong. Silver is just silver and gold is usually plated over silver. To re-silver a horn requires some prep, which is time consuming. Hence the cost. Not to mention the repairs or replacement of parts on an older horn that may also have red rot. Make sure the horn is worth the expense or has some sentimental value to you.
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Christian K. Peters
Schilke Loyalist since 1976

[Coolcol123]

You can get silver polish cloths that help with tarnish on silver... just go easy on the polishing, NEVER use silver polish of course

[Don Herman rev2]

The cloths have silver polish in them, plus they pick up dirt that then adds scratches if you don't keep them clean.
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"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music" - Aldous Huxley

[Brad361]

[cbtj51]

I've been using Tarni Shield since the 1970s. My 1998 Getzen Flugelhorn has been cleaned and polished many times as have all of my horns with no detectable loss of Silver Plate.





There is a "protective" coating that is left behind after polishing that inhibits new tarnish from forming. It also has a benefit of cleaning, polishing, and protecting raw brass as well. I rinse all parts of the horn first, then dry and polish using clean microfiber cloth followed by a light wipe down at the end of every playing day with an untreated, clean Selvyt Cloth (something I have used regularly since working in Jewelry stores decades ago). Don't rub hard with the Tarnishield when applying or wiping off. It works very well without elbow grease!

Best Wishes,

Mike
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'71 LA Benge 5X Bb
'72 LA Benge D/Eb
'76 Bach CL 229/25A C
‘92 Bach 37 Bb
'98 Getzen 895S Flugelhorn
'00 Bach 184 Cornet
'02 Yamaha 8335RGS
'16 Bach NY 7
'16 XO 1700RS Piccolo
Reeves 41 Rimmed Mouthpieces