Klarinet Archive - Posting 000487.txt from 1998/11

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] silver and rubber (was wolf tones)
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 10:42:01 -0500

I mentioned that the hard rubber "Carl Fischer" stencil clarinet I bought
recently turns out to have silver-plated keys.

Roger Shilcock wrote,
>>Silver plating is a stupid thing to do on an ebonite instrument. The sulphur
in the rubber reacts with silver; this is removeable, no doubt, but in
removing it some of the plating goes too.>>

That was also my impression, but now I'm wondering about the chemical
differences between soft rubber (as in rubber bands) and hard rubber (as in
clarinets, mouthpieces and fountain pens). I don't question the warnings
against letting soft rubber come in contact with silver. I've seen the damage
that results. For instance, one of my silver-plated saxes has permanent black
streaks from a rubber band that a former owner used to close a vent key with a
broken spring. (I consider myself frugal, but that's REALLY cheap!) Silver
polish won't take off those marks. I haven't found anything else that will do
the job without risking the plate.

However, the fact is that although this rubber clarinet must be about half a
century old, the silver plated keys are undamaged, despite moisture conditions
inside the case that permitted other types of corrosion, though it wasn't
extensive. The case needed cleaning up, the corks and pads needed replacing
and I removed minor rust from some of the screws and screw holes.
(Fortunately the threads were all right. WD-40 released the screws.) The
blackening of the silver in the tight places (between the trill keys, for
instance) was ordinary tarnish. It came off easily with silver polish. I
found nothing like the damage that I've seen elsewhere from rubber bands.

I also own several old hard rubber sax and clarinet mouthpieces with ligatures
and caps plated with silver both inside and out. The silver shows none of the
characteristic damage, despite decades of direct contact with the hard rubber.
My husband collects old writing pens. Some of the hard rubber ones from the
early 1900s have decorative bands and silver filagree applied directly and
tightly to the rubber. He finds no damage, either on the surfaces that
contact the rubber (filagree) or the ones separated by small amounts of air
space (clips). He thinks that something about the manufacturing process locks
up the sulfur in hard rubber and makes it less likely to interact with silver.
Maybe someone with a better scientific background than mine can explain
further.

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A general flavor of mild decay,
But nothing local, as one might say."
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, "The Deacon's Masterpiece"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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