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Hey everyone, I have a satin silver mouthpiece with a gold rim and despite wiping it with soap and warm water every week, it has tarnished really badly. Is there anything I can do to restore this mouthpiece to the way it used to look? I was thinking a silver polish, but I'm not sure how it would affect the gold rim.

Any brand you would recommend? We used some silver cream to polish our tubas, would that work on the mouthpiece?

Tulanetubaboy wrote:Hey everyone, I have a satin silver mouthpiece with a gold rim and despite wiping it with soap and warm water every week, it has tarnished really badly. Is there anything I can do to restore this mouthpiece to the way it used to look? I was thinking a silver polish, but I'm not sure how it would affect the gold rim.

this could be a reaction between the metal and some component of your saliva (an enzyme, or you might have unusually acidic saliva), and therefore nothing to do with cleanliness, and I don't think any sort of polish will help either. You may have to resign yourself to the unfortunate fact that gold plated mouthpieces are not for you

With satin silver you really don't want to use a cream, it's very difficult to get that stuff completely rinsed off. I recommend a liquid polish like Tarn-X. What I do is dillute some in a little spray bottle, place the mouthpiece in the sink on a paper towel or soft cloth, and give it a couple of squirts. Let it sit a moment, then rinse with cold water. I like to wash it off again with warm soapy water afterwards just to be safe.

Would the baking soda trick affect the gold?
It worked great on a silver water pitcher that had too many nooks and crannies for my patience.
Dishpan with aluminum foil on the bottom filled with very hot water mixed with baking soda. The tarnish vanished.
For a small item like a mouthpiece, it would be even easier.