Polishing metal mouthpieces!

[breathless]

Just today received my fleebay purchased Yanagisawa metal mouthpiece. It's in very good condition however having an engineering background I always like to give things a good clean or overhaul when I get them, simply to make them the best they can be.

These yanagisawa metal mouthpieces are silver plated brass and I'm quite certain its not lacquered? Which means I can polish this baby to a real shine.

Does anyone else treat there metal mouthpieces in such a manor?

Rgds Lee.

 

[Koen88]

well I have a unlacquered gold plated guardala which gets a bit stuffy (cosmeticaly) over time. And I use toothpolish / toothpaste and a q-tip / cotton swab, to rub it. it allways works for me and doesnt take a lot of material from the mpc.

 

[kevgermany]

I do with my silver plated saxes. Don't polish all the silver off. A silver cloth is probably all you need. Doesn't do a lot for the mouthpiece taste, though.

 

[tzadik]

On silver mouthpiece I generally use a polish for silverware (not for silver jewels): it works fine and it's not aggressive on surface. Then I clean the residue with some denatured alcohol, then I wash it under water.

For deeper cleaning, I use a car polish... then alcohol, then water.

Usually a silver cloth can be enough to remove the silver tarnish.

 

[breathless]

Thanks for your suggestions.

heres a before and after pic, came up quite well. (picture quailty is not that good as I took them on my Blackberry), should really make an effort and use the expensive Digital SLR I own.

before,

after,

the overall condition of the mouthpiece is very good and only had light scratches which have mostly come out.

Rgds Lee.

 

[Koen88]

looks good, now use gloves to handle them...

 

[breathless]

Koen, of course your right, thats the only problem with un-laquered polished metal.

oh well Ill just have to give it a rub every once in a while.

Lee.

 

[aldevis]

Then I clean the residue with some denatured alcohol.

It is almost illegal in UK.

I vote for toothpaste. Selmer Super Smile toothpaste (that by the way is a very good marketing idea)

 

[thomsax]

I use to clean my mouthpices regulary with lukewarm running water, a few drops washing-up liquid, a soft brush, rinse and dry with paper. I don't polish my plated mpc's. The plating on mouthpieces has two functions; to proctect the mouthpiece (brass, copper, bronze ...) against corrossion and, most important, to protect the player to get in touch with metals that can be unhealthy. So I don't think you should remove the plating by polishing. Gold- and silverplating are best. And of course solid stainless steel (surgial, like old Larsen's) is also good. Nickel-nickelsilver plated??

Thomas

 

[breathless]

Thanks Thomas, Stainless steel! thats interesting as I assumed that would be a very good metal to use for the purpose of manufacturing mouthpieces however I cant say ive seen any?

I understand what your saying about the plating and am aware that any type of precious metal plating is normally only microns thick and would easily be rubbed away, so was very careful with the polishing.

rgds Lee.

 

[Jazzaferri]

There are some stailess mpces out there. Refcers hate them as they are sooo hard to work on. If you get a good one great ...... but