Silverplating a mouthpiece

[Craig Garner]

Question, it is silverplating a mouthpiece any different than silverplating a tea set? Could a jewler silver plate a mouthpiece?

[iiipopes]

Yes. Just be careful in the prep and buffing so the contour of the rim is not compromised. Also, because of constant wear, it might have to sit in the bath so the silver lays on a thicker layer than most jewelry, which also increases the risk of spotting, which requires more care in buffing out the final finish.

[Tom]

The prep work is absolutely key and is what I would worry about with someone unfamiliar with plating something like a mouthpiece. There are people and places that routinely deal with plating mouthpieces, such as Dillon Music. You can even deal with Anderson Plating directly, if you'd like...they are the real experts in the field and their expertise is worth paying for.

I've had a couple of mouthpieces modified and subsequently replated at Dillon Music and they did great work. I do not know absolutely for sure, but I believe they send their plating out to Anderson, too.

[ghmerrill]

I think (am quite sure) that the Kanstul shop does their own. They've replated a couple of my mouthpieces after turning down the shanks. Easier to deal with and they've been quick for me.

[royjohn]

I have done some jewelry work and have a friend who is a wholesale jeweler, so I have some experience in this area. Yes, a jeweler with a plating setup could easily replate a mouthpiece. That's the short answer. If you want to know more, read on. The jeweler's silver bath should certainly be large enough to take a tuba mouthpiece and his buffing equipment should be identical to that used by a brass repair shop or mouthpiece plater. You would just have to check to see who is cheaper, your local jeweler (no shipping charges) or a brass repair shop. I see that Vlad at Dillons charges $33.95 to replate a tuba mouthpiece. You would also need to tell the jeweler to be careful to maintain the shape of your rim. This really isn't difficult if there are no nicks or dents, as it's only a matter of buffing carefully, as little as possible. Silver plating is probably less than 0.001" thick, certainly in most cases no more than 0.0015". I have buffed silver plated mouthpieces to take out light scratches and not gone through the silver plate, so I would think that your plater is taking off less than 0.001" in buffing. If your mouthpiece rim has nicks in it, you are going to have to choose between buffing these out and leaving them in to retain the rim shape. A very good craftsman could and should, of course, try to remove exactly the same amount all over the mouthpiece, to retain the rim shape, but, if the nicks to be removed are deep, this could be difficult. When I get around to restoring some mouthpieces, I'll probably try to fill the nicks with lead free solder rather than removing them through buffing. It is also possible to burnish rather than buff and this removes less material. All things that a competent jeweler or brass restoration person should understand. Burnishing is a lot more trouble than buffing, so my guess is that few do it.

If a plating bath is run right, the mouthpiece should require no buffing after replating. A polish with baking soda by hand or in a tumbler will bring up the shine, with the right cushioning media.

If you get interested in this, it is not all that difficult to build a small plating setup to do mouthpieces, but it does take some attention to details like prepolish, prep, solution prep, and voltage and current. Someone talented with electronics could easily build a setup cheaply out of a small power supply and a DMM, etc. However, the solutions are not cheap, so you could spend $100 or more pretty quickly, so just seeking the best price from a decent plater will be most people's option.

It is also possible to buy a plating pen that runs off a 6 v battery or a 6v wall wart and just "paint" the silver on where it has worn off your mouthpiece. The last time I bought a plating pen it was $60. I have used it on trumpets with small worn spots in the silver plate, but not on any mouthpieces. You can build up a pretty good layer of plate by going over the area several times. Again, the mouthpiece just needs to be very clean, cleaned with Dawn and water and then maybe rinsed in distilled water. Some folks clean by boiling in the Dawn solution. This type of plating may be a little less thick, but if you have the pen, you can redo next year if needed. If you have a few mouthpieces that need a light replate in spots and are not real nicked and you are the adventurous type, maybe this is for you. You can polish by hand to prep.

If anyone has questions about this, they can PM me and I'll be glad to share what I know. More than you really wanted to know, I guess.

[Lee Stofer]

Excellent post, Royjohn!

Due to the environmental implications and not wanting to be bothered by regulatory agencies, I just do very careful prep work and have Anderson Plating do all of my plating work, from valve rebuilds to mouthpieces to entire instrument plating. They have given me exemplary service.

[Dan Schultz]

.... If your mouthpiece rim has nicks in it, you are going to have to choose between buffing these out and leaving them in to retain the rim shape. A very good craftsman could and should, of course, try to remove exactly the same amount all over the mouthpiece, to retain the rim shape, but, if the nicks to be removed are deep, this could be difficult. When I get around to restoring some mouthpieces, I'll probably try to fill the nicks with lead free solder rather than removing them through buffing. It is also possible to burnish rather than buff and this removes less material. .....

Nicks are actually the deformation of the surface where the brass has been moved out of the area of the nick to the area immediately around the edge of the nick. The area can usually be burnished to move the brass back to where it came from without removing any material or sacrificing the profile.