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Mouthpieces Discoloured mouthpiece fix!

Jobylou

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Just wanted to share this with you in case anyone finds it useful (although everyone may know about it already)
I bought a second hand vintage alto mouthpiece of eBay and cleaned it in Dettol, it went a horrid brown colour and I panicked (luckily it wasnt expensive!)
I managed to find a fix thanks to google! I rubbed it all over in cork grease and then rubbed it off with kitchen towel, hey presto it is now nice and black again and looks good as new :)
 
Just wanted to share this with you in case anyone finds it useful (although everyone may know about it already)
I bought a second hand vintage alto mouthpiece of eBay and cleaned it in Dettol, it went a horrid brown colour and I panicked (luckily it wasnt expensive!)
I managed to find a fix thanks to google! I rubbed it all over in cork grease and then rubbed it off with kitchen towel, hey presto it is now nice and black again and looks good as new :)

I'm more concerned how grey i'm getting these days than any mp :(
 
Some use olive oil. I prefer lard or old chip fat. It's the taste dontchaknow.
tastey.gif
 
and cleaned it in Dettol, it went a horrid brown colour and I panicked :)

So very glad to read this. I had gastric flu recently and decided to clean my mouthpiece using baby bottle sterilising solution and had the same happen.

Gonna try this remedy in the morning!
 
I wouldn't put anything on a rubber mouthpiece that might have an unpleasant lingering odour.

Some cork grease has a bit of a solventy smell/taste to it. The olive oil thing works and has no odour. I was joking about the lard.

I've recently acquired another vintage hard rubber piece and it's been cleaned in TCP which is lingering. The first few bars feel a bit clinical.

I scrub out my mp with toothpaste, being careful not to damage the inside, then flush with an alcohol based peppermint mouthwash.

I've been looking for a thread I read on this forum, but can't find it, about mouthpiece cleaning. I seem to remember it's best to keep your mp away from hot water or it may go green.
 
II seem to remember it's best to keep your mp away from hot water or it may go green.

Oh dear, that's exactly what I did with Milton's in the hot water ......... gonna try the cork grease/olive oil option this morning, and read the link posted for the original thread first.

Possibly take before and after photo's and post them back here for you all
 
:w00t:You're going to put cork grease in your mouth??:w00t: There was a thread about this on another forum where the guys lips all swelled up. :thumb:Better to use a food product:thumb:

Chris...
 
Once I baked a clarinet piece. Maybe I should have covered it in olive oil first.
I personally like discoloured pieces. The real problem comes when they develop that "taste of hell".
This happens when the sulfur is no longer linked with the carbon (I call it "depolymerization" just for the pleasure of getting funny looks), and there is not much you can do. Baking surely doesn't work. Buffering can be fine, if you don't touch rails and table.
 
:w00t:You're going to put cork grease in your mouth??:w00t: There was a thread about this on another forum where the guys lips all swelled up. :thumb:Better to use a food product:thumb:

Chris...
No, I rubbed the cork grease off with kitchen towel. Maybe I should just give up saxophone and go back to brass - never had these problems then ;}
 
But life was so much easier without a million mouthpiece choices, reeds, ligatures, slings...
No worrying about discolored mouthpieces...
Just shove the mouthpiece in and blow!!! :thumb:

... off to google Flugel horns!
 
Well, I went and done did it this morning: here's the Before : IMG_1646.jpg

here's the 'with olive oil' (good quality/flavour) IMG_1647.jpg

and here's the after buffing up with kitchen paper IMG_1648.jpg

in my opinion it has been worth doing as it has restored some sheen to the piece, even though it hasn't restored the colour. At least it looks a bit healthier for putting into your mouth!

Mel
 

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