Saxophones copper saxes and oxydising

[sdegraw]

Would copper saxes like the rapone and cazzani saxes oxidise?

 

[sdegraw]

Also would anything happen to raw bronze r and c saxes?

 

[daveysaxboy]

Yea they get a great patina and look way cool. If you like that look go for it if you like shiny horns don't.

 

[sdegraw]

Do you think you could post a picture of what happens?

 

[kevgermany]

Do you think you could post a picture of what happens?

For copper, look at an old water pipe. Unless you get acid or other chemicals attacking it, in which case it could turn green, blue, black as well as red.

Copper's pretty soft, if you do get a copper sax, you'll really need to be careful with it to avoid dents, body distortion, leaks from keys moving.

 

[old git]

One advantage. Copper is an excellent conductor so you could use as an aerial to listen to the radio whilst playing the usual rubbish with the band.

 

[Colin the Bear]

Are the copper saxes high copper content brass or are they plated?

 

[Pete Thomas]

Would copper saxes like the rapone and cazzani saxes oxidise?

My R & C has a bronze body and silver bell. Yes it tarnishes and once or twicea year I polish it it. Not a complete disassembly, just take off the main bits and polish what is easy to get at.

 

[Ads]

Hmmmmm, after over 25 years of having a sax that looks like crap, I can`t say I`m in the least into this current craze of striving to make a new horn look like it was dredged out of the mersey and ones which come with a fake "Vintage" finish (like the Buffet 400`s most popular finish) just look tacky in the extreme to me . I`m enjoying having a nice shiny silver horn and if I had a RAW one with a high copper content like the various Bronze ones have, I would do the same as Pete and polish it twice a year .

The only reason I`d buy a RAW horn would be if it happened to sound better than the Laquered version next to it .

 

[Pete Thomas]

I would do the same as Pete and polish it twice a year .

Yes, I prefer a polished metal look to either lacquer or heavy patina.

 

[Ads]

Yeah, I Can understand that, Polished metal looks "Real" whether silver plate, bronze or whatever whereas Laquer looks too "new" when good and merely crappy when pitted, I have an 1860s Higham peashooter trom which despite the dents looks fantastic polished up, Brass is very messy to keep shiny and less rewarding than bronze or silver IMO hence my comment. I`m glad they don`t laquer silver plate

 

[old git]

Hmmmmm, after over 25 years of having a sax that looks like crap, I can`t say I`m in the least into this current craze of striving to make a new horn look like it was dredged out of the mersey and ones which come with a fake "Vintage" finish (like the Buffet 400`s most popular finish) just look tacky in the extreme to me . I`m enjoying having a nice shiny silver horn and if I had a RAW one with a high copper content like the various Bronze ones have, I would do the same as Pete and polish it twice a year .

If you're willing to polish more than twice a year, the Army is recruiting.

 

[jbtsax]

I too prefer shiny silver or a mix of shiny and satin finish on saxes over the rough aged look. However I realized a while back that these are not being marketed to us old geezers who already have a saxophone, they are meant to attract a younger generation of players.

The music store I used to work for was a Cannonball Dealer, and being a sax player, part of my assignment was to set up and staff the Cannonball saxophone display at various high school jazz events. As soon as each high school or junior high group entered the display area, I would hear exclamations like "Man, those are the coolest looking saxes!" Then they would make a beeline to the "Brute" tenor, alto, bari, and soprano on display, and go right past the ones I thought were the best looking.

 

[Ads]

it still makes me laugh to see faked finishes made to look as bad as my MkVII did after nearly 40 years of abuse, I`d have loved it to have been mint in all the time I had it (about 27 of those 38 years, it was tatty when I got it) so I`m looking after the Silver 62 .. RAW horns will keep their appeal as people can polish them or not and they`ll have that lovely old polished look when done but faked vintage finishes will be "passe" in a few years .

 

[altissimo]

I can't understand why people want a new sax that looks old, when it's cheaper to get an old sax that looks (and sounds) old..
do these vintage finish saxes come in battered cases with an authentic smell of mildew?
my mate got rid of his bare brass Mauriat tenor 'cos he was sick of the smell of brass on his hands and it was going green.. he was even considering getting it lacquered...

the trend for reliced and roadworn finishes on guitars has gone mad, the most extreme example being the Rory Gallagher signature model Stratocaster, which has hardly any paint on it...
Where will it end? Steinway doing a Jerry Lee Lewis signature model piano with boot prints on the lid and cigarette stained keys? Or perhaps a Keith Moon exploding drum kit?

 

[jbtsax]

The only thing I can say about the Brute finish is the sax will never look worse than the day it was bought. 🙂

 

[cherrybyte]

Do you think you could post a picture of what happens?

I could, Yam82ZUL..raw brass well played since 2005..never cleaned (bar soaking out the moisture) but I won't cos you would sue me for PTSD..it's not nice..!!

 

[Plod]

I recently had the opportunity to take a close look at 'Snake Davis' UL Yani 992 (Bronze) after he played at Sax.co.uk. I think the green stuff growing on various parts could be sold to Smith Kline Beecham or Glaxo Welcome for research.

 

[aldevis]

Are the copper saxes high copper content brass or are they plated?

We (Sequoia) call them by the copper%: K91 or K85. Our yellow brass is 67% (by memory). My high copper necks just look more red and they develop a nice patina.

 

[aldevis]

One day I will take a picture of the unthinkable oxides happily mating on my MkVI