Cleaning vintage Sliver silver horns & gold wash

[Tundratubast]

Does anybody have experience cleaning old trumpets or coronets and not loosing the
gold horns wash in the bell and engravings, I have silver dipped a couple of coronets
in silver dip and have significantly reduce te gold wash


Is the Silver supposed to be "cut" with water to reduce the strength of stripping the oxyficating/
tarnish on the instrument? Thanks.

[Mike C855B]

I wish I could offer encouraging words, but cannot - same problem with the 90-year-old Conn BAT I've had for nearly half its life. When I had it restored a couple of years ago the restorer said "I can't save the gold, too much is gone, and it'll cost us at least a couple of thousand to attempt to re-plate it."

I sadly told him to do what he had to. The polished silver looks great, but, alas, it's just not the same.

[The Big Ben]

When those gold wash bells are plated, the silver is plated, all of the silver except for the inside of the bell is covered and then the thin gold is put on.

Fasten something over the bell so no cleaner goes in. Maybe block other openings in the horn so the cleaner doesn't go in.

Of course, I might have it all wrong. I'm in the TNFJ after all.

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If you could stand the phoniness, perhaps the gold look could be applied with lacquer dyed so it looks like gold wash. If it looks like *** when you are finished, you can always take it off.