Klarinet Archive - Posting 000377.txt from 1996/01

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Tarnished keys
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 1996 13:24:30 -0500

Paul,

Your local music store should carry at least one of a myriad of cleaning
cloths, designed for polishing plated surfaces such as your nickel-plated
clarinet keys. Yamaha makes one, as does a company called Blitz
Manufacturing Company (I use this one). I imagine that most people buy
these cloths for their silver-plated flutes and clarinets, but the Blitz
cloth ("MetalCare", it's called) is suitable for nickel plating as
well. Whichever brand of cloth you buy, do not use it overly
frequently. The cleaning agent, which removes the tarnish from your keys,
is contained in the cloth and, depending on which brand you use, may be
released from the cloth in dry powder form while you're buffing your
keys. Over a period of time (when used too often), this powder may work its
way underneath your pads, onto your springs, and into your toneholes,
thereby creating much worse internal and mechanical problems than the
unsightly smudges which were once a blight upon your keys.

My suggestion is that you perform an initial detailed cleaning of your keys
using one of these polishing cloths, and then use a plain old cotton t-shirt
(blank, without graphics or printing of any kind -- or turn one of your
t-shirts inside-out to use the clear side) to clean your keys as often as
you wish thereafter. Cotton is gentle enough that it won't harm the
plating on your keys, and it works fine for buffing your keys and
removing the fingertip acid and smudges after playing. Buff with the
t-shirt all the time, and polish with the silver cloth maybe once every
few weeks when it becomes apparent that the residue from your fingertips
has accumulated to such a point that the cotton can no longer remove it
by simple buffing.

Once last important thing: After each use of the silver cloth on your
keys, be sure to go over the whole instrument again immediately afterward
with your plain cotton t-shirt. The cleaning agent in the cloth, if left
on your keys after polishing, will as surely eat away at your nickel
plating as it did the acid and smudges which you removed.

Neil.

On Fri, 19 Jan 1996, From the =?iso-8859-1?Q?S=E1nchez?= Computer wrote:

> >Hello there everyone!!!
> >
> >I'm a Nineth- grader here in Mississippi and My band director sold me a
> >Buffett Crampon E-11 (used, but I love it and would not trade it for a
> >Yamaha or a CHEAP LaBLANC!!!, which my band director uses. Cheap. Cheap.
> >Cheap.) anyway- My keys lately have been getting a rotten- looking tarnish
> >on them (I think that they are nickel plated). If anyone has any ideas on
> >clearing up this problem, please email me. and Mrs. Pulver, sorry, but I
> >had to tell!!!
> >
> >Paul Sanchez
> >email- Pauls@-----.com
> >
> >
>

   
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