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How to keep my brown bits from becoming red bits?

DavidUK

DavidUK

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Near Lutterworth, Leics.
I have my Yani T4 (Super Pennsylvania) dismantled and cleaned.

Some of the key work is nicely tanned. A brown "rust" colour, as with the rod in the centre, here...

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So far I have run a Brasso wad up and down the rods to remove any loose lacquer and smooth them off slightly. Same with keys, guards, etc but not in an attempt to polish these areas back to shiny brass. That would take forever and the corrosion process would start all over again.

I'm wanting to embrace the patina, which will spread over time to other still lacquered areas. I'd love the whole horn to change to vintage brown but once again the work involved in trying to accelerate the ageing process would be excessive and also a non-original "cheat."

So I just clean it up and re-assemble, right?
Well, I could, but brown may well turn to red rot as in a couple of tiny wee places which I have polished back a little to remove the red.

What I need to do is to try and arrest the further corrosion of the brown bits. Stop it in its tracks. But how?

I tried Renaissance Wax on my bare Grassi but it didn't stop the tarnishing. What else could I apply, simply, whilst dismantled, to slow down the ageing process? I'm happy for gold to turn brown but not for brown to turn red.

Any ideas?
 
Apply some sort of silicone and then a regular wipe over with a cloth that is impregnated with silicone. I have a Yamaha lacquer cloth (other brands are available.) Works well on the unfinished brass shank of one of my mouthpieces
 
Silver plating is a proven method to prevent brass oxidation. :cool:

Aside from that, treating the surface to limit exposure to environmental attack (especially chloride) is the way to go. I used Meguiars auto polish on my UL horns and it did a very good job of slowing tarnish as well as limiting water spotting. It's still a good practice to wipe the horn occasionally unless there is a particular spittoon look that you prefer.
 
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Googled:

“Red rot” occurs when the brass loses its zinc content. It has multiple causes: perhaps the instrument was made from a bad batch of brass, or the metal was overheated during construction, or the player's personal body chemistry is interacting and leaching the zinc from the copper/zinc alloy.
You can help prevent it by reducing the acids you introduce into your instrument. Avoid eating right before playing, and especially drinking acidic drinks such as coffee, tea, sodas, lemonade, and so forth. Brush your teeth before playing if possible, or even simply rinse your mouth well before playing.
 
MarkSax said:
Googled:

“Red rot” occurs when the brass loses its zinc content. It has multiple causes: perhaps the instrument was made from a bad batch of brass, or the metal was overheated during construction, or the player's personal body chemistry is interacting and leaching the zinc from the copper/zinc alloy.
Click to expand...
Red rot's extremely rare on saxes - I don't think I've seen a proper case of it. It's more common on brasswinds - particularly trumpet lead pipes.
The red blotches you see on a sax are, I suppose, a very mild form of it - but they tend not to propagate in the way that proper red rot does...and this is likely due to insufficient moisture.
 
I've been using car wax on saxes for a while and it appears to be rather protective.

I should use it on my car, but I can't find the time... I work in the car industry but I don't care much about cars. :rolleyes:
 
The one I have is Autoglym HD wax. I only used this as a base car wax after claying (Bilt Hamber) from new.
But the real revelation after subsequent washing with Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo is to go round the still wet car with Autoglym Aqua Wax.
A small spray of this on each panel whilst wet, spread with a microfibre cloth, and then once all panels are done polish off with a second clean microfibre cloth. Easier than a chamois and gives a protective top-up wax after every wash. Brilliant stuff.

NB. I'll just use the HD wax on the sax.
NB2. I have no association with Autoglym!
 
My suggestion is to ignore it.

The brown form of oxidation is reasonably stable. If you get a lot of red oxidation and it starts coming off on your hands, then rub it off with a rag.

Silver and nickel plating will cure the problem. Some years ago I got some parts made up with electroless nickel, not for appearance but for wear resistance and anti-friction, and they were freaking beautiful! Someday I'd like to see how a sax would look in electroless nickel. I don't know if it would look different than regular old Ni electroplating. The parts I had made were aluminum and they weren't polished before plating. But matte finish with electroless Ni might be a really pretty finish for a horn.
 
I've been researching electroless nickel PTFE plating recently, for my pad project.
The PTFE is added into the plating solution to bind at molecular level.
Any wear in the plating presents new PTFE to the surface. It too can have a Matt silver finish but I can't think why you'd want a slippery sax. I guess saliva would drip off better, but then the sax might also slip out of your hands!
 

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