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The plating on the top bow of my 35 year-old plus Yamaha F has been worn off in several places just be contact with my fingers. I'd like for that not to happen to the Eastman CC I just bought. I know I could wear a glove but I couldn't take the ridicule that would engender. Any suggestions?

I’d like to find that sparkly tape you’d see on bicycle handlebars back in the 70s!!

Maybe someone can add to this. Or maybe Chris himself:

I've seen Chris Olka play up close a few times and he uses some plastic/naughahide/whatever disks where his hands touch the silver plating. They are about 4x6 with rounded corners. I remember that I asked him about them and he gave me the name but I don't remember it. They weren't magnetic and they did not use any type of adhesive to hold them in place. He could pick them up and move them around. Static electricity? Good juju? A no-extra-cost option on the Yamayork? I don't know but they seemed to work well.

Three Valves wrote:I’d like to find that sparkly tape you’d see on bicycle handlebars back in the 70s!!

I think it is still available. Check a bike shop. It doesn't have adhesive on it but it does stay put.

I think a tape of the Greatful Dead’s August 21, 1972 concert will work just fine...

A coating would be better than any kind of tape or cover. You can even lacquer over silver. Tape it off and lacquer the spots you want to last forever.

bloke wrote:
...and yeah, I see the very same distress to the surface of the brass on instruments when people use bicycle handle tape, and I remove it (for repairs) after a couple of years.

Let’s change the topic to, “tape to cover already damaged silver and lacquer that looks more cool than sparkly bicycle handle tape!!”

On worn areas of my horns I put a coat of clear fingernail polish. It lasts a fair bit, is cheap, you can’t see it and polish remover doesn’t seem to harm anything should I want to remove it. Works for me.

Mark

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tofu wrote:Taping parts of your horn reminds me of the people in the 1990's that put expensive "car bras" on the front ends of their cars. The cars looked stupid, fabric flapped in the wind and the bra material interacted with & made a mess of the underlying paint on the hood and front end. Never understood driving around making your sleek car look not so sleek, but preserving the finish for the next owner - which it didn't.

"Bras" had their start at the Porsche factory. They would put one on the new cars before they took them out for a turn on the test track before shipping the car to the customer. They wanted to avoid stone chips on a customer's new car. When they were finished, they took it off and shipped the new car. Why they became popular for everyday cars, I do not know.