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Just looking for a ballpark figure -- what would it cost to have a silver tuba mouthpiece re-plated? It is in good condition (no dings/nicks/pitting), but the silver is pretty worn down.

In the past several years, I've had the Kanstul shop turn down shanks on a couple of mouthpieces for me. As part of that, they replated the mouthpieces. The cost was around $50 plus shipping.

Ok, cool. Thanks!

To do it well, there are a few steps in the process.

1) Send to plater to strip all old plating off down to bare brass.
2) Polish shiny and smooth(and often sand out dings). You would be amazed how many 'perfect but needs replated' mouthpieces have a million imperfections once shined up.
3) Send back to the plater for final plating.

Part of the cost is labor but the bulk of the cost is the plater. There are lots of local platers that can handle a mouthpiece but not all are created equal and it helps if you have a working relationship and they understand your expectations. Also, many platers don't charge per item but per job.. if you are just doing one piece it could be expensive. Doing 20 might be a steal. Also, the price can vary quite a bit with the price of silver.

You might find a local plater that will be willing to do all the steps but I personally would prefer to do the finish work on a mouthpiece IF I like it enough to be replating rather than replacing it.

Good luck!

Thanks for the insight! The mouthpiece in question has a significant amount of silver wear inside the cup of the mouthpiece. Not a *huge* problem just yet, but worn mouthpieces have given me irritation/trouble in the past.

If I have this done, it would have to be a total investment that's less than buying a new mouthpiece (I don't see that being a problem). Also, if I have this done, I'd take it down to Dillon's.

bloke wrote:

a bort wrote:The mouthpiece in question has a significant amount of silver wear inside the cup...

1/ Forks, knives, and spoons inside a tuba mouthpiece cup might possibly cause some unwanted acoustical turbulence.
2/ Silver plated brass mouthpieces are to tuba playing as IBM Selectric typewriters are to word processing.

bloke "Paying someone to buff out the scratches (and sending it off to be stripped is an unnecessary step), pack it up, ship it, receive it back, and clean it up a bit after it's plated is worth at least $50, but someone might only charge you $40. Anderson's (dealer) pricing had been rising meteorically, until (finally) they resorted to a "silver surcharge". It would be hard to imagine that they would charge a repair shop less than $15 (more, these days?) to silver plate a tuba mouthpiece. In addition, there is round-trip postage or shipping. If it's a blah-blah mouthpiece, you might be better off trolling for a near-new-condition one for c. $60 or less."

+1. After I wore off the plating on my mouthpieces, I bit the bullet and instead of having them replated, to go with my Kelly, I bought a stainless steel mouthpiece instead. Used. Less cash out than replating. Better yet, I know unless a severe mechanical accident happens, I won't have to be concerned about it for the rest of my playing days.

The office I used to work in did keep an old Selectric about to fill in forms that had not been programmed as fillable pdf's online. Over the last decade, I found I used it less, and less, and....

The sort of person that has strong emotional attachment to a specific mouthpiece is often the sort of person that wants it to look perfect when done. The only way I'm aware of to guarantee that appearance is the process I described above.

Thanks for the info. For me, it's like this: I spent $50 for the mouthpiece. It's older ("West Germany") and I'm having a hard time tracking down another one. I'm sure one will pop up if I'm patient, but until then, considering my options. I'm not sure what a new one costs, but I'm guessing around $125(?). So if I can get it refinished such that $50 + replating is less than $125, I'd be content.

No, it's not an impossibly rare mouthpiece. But it's also not a Bach 18.

I've already got one.

I'm not trying to be secretive about anything, just didn't think it was really relevant.

It's an older Rudy Meinl RM1 mouthpiece. That's the model of mouthpiece that would have been supplied with my horn, though I bought this one separately here on TubeNet.

Yes, they still make these, and I could buy a new one. But, I already own this one. And it says "Made in West Germany," which is kind of cool. I bought this for a good price, and even with restoration, it would be worth it to me.

I did post a new WTB listing here in case there's another RM1 floating around for sale. I know if I'm patient, one will come up eventually. But I'm not all that patient right now, so if nothing pops up, it's going to Dillon's next weekend.