Mouthpieces Cleaning up an un-used Berg mpc

[craig]

Have got back into playing after a hiatus, and am loving this site. Excellent!

Anyhoo, my slack chops are not playing ball like they used to so I have changed to a more open mpc, which means a few of the older mpc's I have knocking around will be leaving the building.

One of them, a Berg 115/2/SMS is proving to be a bit of a bugger to clean, at least on the facing.

I have given it a good soaking in vinegar and the rest of the mpc has cleaned up nice enough, but the facing is proving trickier, and I don't want to use anything abrasive on it for obvious reasons.

Any suggestions as to what will shift the gunk? I have attatched a piccie, which makes it look 100 times worse than in real life, but hey ho.

Any thoughts and advice would be most welcome. I'd like her to go to a good new home, but don't want to sell her looking like she does at the mo.

View attachment 1344

 

[Nick Wyver]

pic doesn't work.

 

[craig]

Thanks Nick. OK, let's see if this works

 

[Nick Wyver]

Warm water. Old toothbrush.

 

[craig]

Warm water. Old toothbrush.

Will happily give water+toothbrush another shot, but had already given it a good go with that, and had previously soaked in vinegar too

Will have another good scub this evening

 

[aldevis]

Will happily give water+toothbrush another shot, but had already given it a good go with that, and had previously soaked in vinegar too

Will have another good scub this evening

I would insist with vinegar.
I swear a have seen Viakal used successfully, but I would never use it. Too scared.

 

[kevgermany]

Stuff it with kitchen towel, then dribble the vinegar into it. Use spirit vinegar.

Be really careful with heat, anything hotter than lukewarm water can cause serious discolouration.

 

[jazzdoh]

Olive oil is also good to revitalise a hard rubber mouthpiece.

Brian

 

[jbtsax]

I have even had hard rubber mouthpieces turn brown in luke warm water. I would suggest cool water whenever cleaning old ebonite mouthpieces. The white markings inside are mineral deposits, probably mostly calcium. If vinegar over time doesn't dissolve the deposits, you might try a stronger acid for a short period of time. There is one we use in the States called "Lime Away" that is designed to remove calcium deposits on shower tiles etc. A dip for 15 seconds in a glass of Lime Away (or equivalent) followed by immersion in a baking soda solution, and then brushing with cool soapy water should do the trick.

I have cleaned dozens of old hard rubber mouthpieces using this technique, and the mouthpiece material has never been affected by the acid, just the mineral deposits. However, it is very important to neutralize the acid with baking soda and clean with soapy water to remove the odor of the acid from the mouthpiece.

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

Thats calcium carbonate deposits in there, just use a bathroom lime scale remover in a bit of warm water, leave over night, job done, i have tried bleach on metal pieces like yours and although it cleans them it wont touch lime scale.

 

[milandro]

actually undiluted vinegar and plenty of time (which I believe you gave too little the first time around) should take care of it.....then toothbrush and toothpaste or sodium bicarbonate.

 

[craig]

Thanks for the advice chaps.

Have given it a good soapy water and toothbrush sesh, to no avail. Barkeepers Friend has been and gone. So I will adopt Milandro & Frasier's comments, and see if that does the trick

Much appreciated, Craig

 

[milandro]

give it time,long soaking, if the vinegar causes discolouration treat with vegetable oil