Cleaning Silver Saxes

[jambo]

I understand that silver plated saxophones tarnish so they need polishing to keep them nice and shiny.

I was just wandering, how much polishing do they need?

If you had a silver sax (and wnated it to look good), would you not spend more time cleaning it than you would playing it?

 

[Pete Thomas]

If you keep it in a case when not in use, and ideally wrapped in some non-tarnish cloth that you can get from some jewellers, it will stay shiny for quite a while.

The frosted finish take more polishing. Ideally you must avoid getting polish on the pads and onto screws etc, so the polishing cloths with stuff imprgnated are probably better than a liquid polish on a rag. I find that once you have some liquid on a rag though, it works quite well even when the liquid is more or less dry, its then similar to one of the imprgnated cloths.

Did you see my soprano auction?

http://tinyurl.com/yff7c6

That sop was quite tarnished. To polish it I dismantled all but the LH stack. It took me 2 0r 3 hours of a Sunday morning and quite a therapetic job if you don't stress out about dropping little point screws on the floor and losing them.

My Conn tenor, I just try tokeep the bell shiny and polish that about once a year. Otherwise just play a tarnished horn.

Maybe tarnish sounds better (see this SOTW thread -aaargh!)

 

[tris]

Careful with any polish what so ever!!!

Not in my wildest dreams would I think about polish near a fully assembled sax. If even a tiny amount of polish finds it's way into any moving joint it will destroy it. The abrasive in the compound is much harder than anything on a sax. (Think about pouring an amount of sand into any joint!)

It is OK if the sax is in pieces and every last trace can be removed, preferably with alcohol wash.

When you polish something properly actual particles of the metal get tuck into the cloth. These build up and they then become the polish. This is the way to get the best finish possible.

What the best (and safest way) in my opinion of course. Is nothing but a simple sheet of black and white newspaper. The ink is abrasive enough! My sax has silver key work and a quick rub with our free paper one a month keeps it chipper!

Also beware of too much silver polishing.. silver is very very soft. It is very easy to remove way too much.

I worked at the high end of the Antiques trade for a while and silver polish was a serious no no! If something is truly black you can fill a container with water and soap flakes. Place a sheet of aluminium foil at the bottom of the container. Dip the object to be clean, making sure it touches the foil and hey-presto... Shining like a new pin instantly!!! I would not do this to something every day though... it still removes material from the surface of the silver!

 

[rs2sensen]

Yeah, be very careful with abrasive silver polishes, it is soooo easy to take your finish right off. I also recommend polishing rags and other polishes which are non-ebrasive.

tris's last suggestion was good. You can do the same with baking soda instead of soap.

they make strips and other anti-tarnish products you can put in the case with the horn that seem to work well.

 

[saxismyaxe]

I'm not sure of the availability of the following product in the U.K., but a superb, non abrasive Silver paste used by instrument techs and jewelers alike in the U.S. is Hagerty's Metal Polish.

It works wonders and doesn't damage or wear down silver plate finishes like a few other commonly recommended products.

Regardless of what you use, one should never overload the applicator/cloth with so much paste that it collects near the keywork anyway.

This is good for restoration or long overdue polishing of Silver. For more regular cleaning, an impregnated cleaning cloth, as recommended above in this thread, is just the ticket.

 

[Rogerb]

The 'tarnish' would be Silver Sulphide, so would contain atoms of silver.
Therefore, you are removing tiny amounts of silver from your sax every time you polish away the tarnish.

I s'pose the answer has to be an electrochemical method which would 're-deposit' the silver and release the sulphur. (like the baking soda & aluminium foil method mentioned, which doesn't actually remove any metal , but does require the silver(-plated sax) to be immersed in the soda solution!) .

As Pete suggests, maybe you should get used to your 'black' sax and convince yourself that black saxes sound better, anyway 😀

Although I think silver saxes look great, I always tend to think that saxes 'should be' gold-coloured! Anyway, I couldn't stand having a tarnished one, and am too lazy to go through all that rigmarole!

Gold-plated alto going cheap, anyone?
😀

 

[Pete Thomas]

Rogerb wrote:

Although I think silver saxes look great, I always tend to think that saxes 'should be' gold-coloured! Anyway, I couldn't stand having a tarnished one, and am too lazy to go through all that rigmarole!

Reminds me of a story an old friend who played trombone in the army. He had a silver trombone and was on parade one day, the drill sargeant walked down the line, stopped at my friend and gave him a dirty look and shouted: "You there! 'Ow come you 'ave a bleedin' white trumpet, and all the others 'ave a bleedin' yellow one?"

 

[Rogerb]

I can just hear him sayin' it Pete... drill sergeants have a colourful turn of phrase, most of which is unrepeatable here 😀

 

[jambo]

What would you recommed I use for the Vintge Silver Sax I just won?

I dont want to make it super shiny, I just want to get it so it doesnt look dull and dirty.

Sax.co.uk sell silver polishing gloves, would they be sutible?

 

[griff136]

Hi jambo,

you can buy 3M silver strips from windcraft.
www.windcraft.co.uk


these are papers impregnated with an inert chemical. a bit like a thin odour eater. They absorb most of the sulphides in the air on your case and keep silver from tarnishing so quickly.

I have a silver selmer Mk6 alto that i use the most and i wipe it over with a silver cloth - available from jewellers and music shops.

I also swab the sax after use, and i have a homemade swab for my crook. I also keep a little bag of silicone like you find in camera cases.

the swab gets put in a plastic bag and kept in the side pouch of my gig case.

all these little measures help to keep my sax from tarnishing.

some silver saxes have a frosted finish which is a little more difficult to clean but once clean the same measures as above should keep the tarnish at bay.


I would avoid using any form of polish unless you were going to have the instrument stripped down as any polish on the pads or cork/felts will ruin it let alone getting any in the gaps between the rods and they keys/posts as it will act like a grinding paste.

 

[tris]

Also I would add that you should make it habitual that you wash your hands before playing your sax, or any musical instrument for that matter!

Sad as it may seem I also brush my teeth and scrape my tounge before playing. I drink quite a bit of coffee, with sugar; an embarassingly large ammount, ask me about my fungal nail infection or warts instead!!! 😉

 

[tengu01]

I have a silver plated sax. I got a Goddards silver cloth and give it a good wipedown everytime it starts to look grubby.

Seems to work just fine, no danger of pastes or liquids getting into any joints and no need to dismantle the thing. And it looks lovely.