What Polish?

[TheHatTuba]

My trombone is silver with gold highlights. i was wondering if a normal silver polish would remove the gold or be safe to use?

[SousaSaver]

What do you use? Not all polishes are the same.

Avoid polishing the gold very much. It usually isn't very thick, but lucky for us it doesn't tarnish like silver and should only take a minor amount of polishing to make it look pretty good.

I like Tarni-Shield made by 3M. It is a pricey polish but is gentle and leaves an anti-tarnish coating on the metal after the horn is polished.

[TheHatTuba]

What do you use? Not all polishes are the same.

Avoid polishing the gold very much. It usually isn't very thick, but lucky for us it doesn't tarnish like silver and should only take a minor amount of polishing to make it look pretty good.

I like Tarni-Shield made by 3M. It is a pricey polish but is gentle and leaves an anti-tarnish coating on the metal after the horn is polished.

Mainly Wrights, but I have heard great things about Hagerty and 3M

[toobagrowl]

I have 3 polishes: Brasso, Tarn-X and Renaissance Wax.
Brasso works great but is VERY strong. Some think it is not good to use over and over on plated surfaces.
Tarn-X works well with silverplate but kinda watery (and stinky - smells like sulfur or rotten eggs).
Renaissance Wax is good for just about any metal but does not polish as much as it waxes. Good for raw brass or goldplate. Your hands will still smell even if you use the wax if your horn is raw brass though.

[SousaSaver]

I have 3 polishes: Brasso, Tarn-X and Renaissance Wax.
Brasso works great but is VERY strong. Some think it is not good to use over and over on plated surfaces.
Tarn-X works well with silverplate but kinda watery (and stinky - smells like sulfur or rotten eggs).
Renaissance Wax is good for just about any metal but does not polish as much as it waxes. Good for raw brass or goldplate. Your hands will still smell even if you use the wax if your horn is raw brass though.

I mean no offense but it is my opinion that you should NEVER use Brasso on silver plate or especially gold plate. It is a really aggressive polish. The same company that makes Brasso also makes Silvo for silver specifically. Brasso is terrific on raw brass and non-plated metals.

Both Wrights and Hagerty's are good and gentle. I have a small collection of different polishes because I went through this exercise myself sometime ago. I have Hagerty's silver spray and foam (which I bought for a very low price at a discount store called Tuesday Morning). I have Wrights liquid silver polish and 3M Tarni-Shield . I use the Tarni-Shield more than anything.