Maintaining shiny silver tubas

Aco · Post by **Aco** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:07 pm

I'm looking for advice on cleaning and maintaining a healthy shiny silver on my piston pt-6. It easily gets dirty, I might even consider wearing soft gloves to prevent finger prints and smudges. Also, it looks like a little runoff from the spit key dried up on the bottom of the horn. I've tried water and drying with a soft cloth, but even using a soft undershirt looks like it leaves it looking "scratchy" in a very subtle (but very noticable to me) way.

The silver polish cloths that I've seen trumpet players use that you can get from a band store works really well for the most part (they don't leave any "scratch"), but I'm wondering what I can do about some of the more hard to clean areas. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:21 pm

Hagerty Silver Polish. Spray it on and wipe if off. You can order it through major jewelery stores or buy it direct from the manufacturer.

http://www.hagerty-polish.com/

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:00 am

Find yourself a cloth diaper and keep it with the horn. They are extremely soft, scratch resistant and the length is just right to loop through and around the tubing to buff polish. That is what I use to clean before performances.

Randy Beschorner · Post by **Randy Beschorner** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:33 am

In case you don't have a supply of cloth diapers, local diaper services do retire diapers after multiple washings. If that still isn't around you might want to try this site:

http://www.dy-dee.com/Merchant2/merchan ... _Code=PCCD

In addition to using them on my horn, I've been known to toss a couple in the case during summer concert season. Soaks up the sweat like nothing else and gets strange looks and lots of space around me.

Steve Marcus · Post by **Steve Marcus** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 8:58 am

Here's info about what Rex Martin uses to clean and shine his horns...

http://www.chisham.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?Search=Trasan

Tubadork · Post by **Tubadork** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:12 am

You could always get it chem cleaned and polished after every time you play. Or you could get it polished and never play it again, then you wouldn't have to worry about it getting dirty.

OK Sorry,
but yeah Hagertys and a cloth should do you fine,
whenever I see a guy playing with gloves, I'm always a little suspiciuos. It reminds me way too much of the car from Ferris Buler's day off. (Sorry for the younger guys- 80's refernece- showing off my age)

Through the grapevine, I have heard a story from a prominent College Prof. (and no, I won't reveal his or her name in case they really didn't say it) that said if you have enough time to polish your horn, you're not practicing enough. Oh well, enough ranting. My horns are dirty, but I do like looking at really pretty polishe up horns like this:

Oh well have fun,
Bill Pritchard

jtuba · Post by **jtuba** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:46 am

I guess I don't practice enough, because my Gronitz looks great.

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 11:50 am

I do not wear gloves all the time but I do wear gloves quite often if I have the horn clean and do not have the time to polish it thoroughly before an upcoming performance. Maybe I am what you would consider a fanatic as I also am one of those who always uses a hard case and always keep my horns in them or in my hands. I hear comments from many who seem to think that also is going overboard or too much work that takes time from rehearsing. These are just things I picked up as part of being a player very early on. I just remind myself that I will be a very poor Tubist if I do not have a tuba due to neglecting its upkeep.

When others think it is weird that I do these things as a priority it does not bother me very much. It is built into my practice schedule and does not make me practice any less. The comments that do bug the heck out of me are from those who think this is an excessive routine and then complain about why their horns plating and laquer is missing, why they have so many dents and dings in their horns and why they have poor resale value when they go sell it.

Ron Bishop once discussed how important it is to keep your mindset towards the total performance and that it means taking care of the little details. He stated that this means how you present yourself as well as how you perform even as far as rehearsing how you are going to walk onto stage, turn your music, play the first note cold, and even rehearsing how you wear your tux in performance. Yes, you darn well better nail your part well but many forget they are presenting a total experience to the audience and that being professional means the total package visually as well as the music. You might not think it matters to the audience how your horn looks, or how you sit in your chair as long as you play well, but I have yet to have a performance where a paying customer has not come up to me afterwards to comment not only about the music but also to mention how attractive my horn was too. They do notice what is going on the stage and we need to do everything we can to keep them coming back and in those seats.

That is just my extremely long 2 cents and probably worth less to most, but I feel better lol...

Rick Denney · Post by **Rick Denney** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:10 pm

euphba wrote:Don't use Brasso on your silver!! (just in case you see this product and want to use it) It says it is a brass/silver/copper polish, but it will leave your silver dark if you don't get it all off right away. even then, it will be really shiny for a while, but it will get tarnished faster than you would imagine. just a warning.

Brasso is also too abrasive and will wear through the silver in a hurry.

The best way to prevent tarnish is to keep the horn out of air, and that means in the case when not in use. Tarnish is oxidation; keep the oxygen away and it won't tarnish.

Rick "who doesn't have to worry about this" Denney

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:40 pm

And ALWAYS polish softly. Once the silver is gone, it's gone. Another way to prevent having to polish is to wipe your horn down each time you play it. The tarnish is not just oxygen, it is also a sulphur compound. So keeping it clean with the dry or barely damp cloth will also do a lot to keep from having to use the polish compounds, because when you take the tarnish, you do take silver, albeit a microscopic amount. But all those microscopic amounts do add up eventually.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:37 pm

Rick Denney wrote:The best way to prevent tarnish is to keep the horn out of air, and that means in the case when not in use. Tarnish is oxidation; keep the oxygen away and it won't tarnish.
Rick "who doesn't have to worry about this" Denney

It's true that oxygen is a major culprit but the BIGGEST problem is sulfur in the atmosphere. Silver will tarnish VERY quickly in the presence of unvented gas flames as are found in vent-free fireplaces and open woodburning fireplaces. I would hate to think what silver would look like if a person is using coal for heat... especially the high-sulfur variety that is found in southern Indiana!