Klarinet Archive - Posting 000938.txt from 2000/11

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Corrosion
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 12:31:00 -0500

Michael Bryant posted:

<<<My skin pH is non-typical. That is the main problem. Must I play in
surgical gloves?>>>

This is a problem that I do not have . . . thankfully. I have a
trumpet-playing friend, though, who has had a *terrible* time with it; his
body chemistry kills both lacquer and silver plating. No matter how careful
he is, his horns looked terrible. Even worse, his mouthpiece was black all
the time, despite frequent polishing.

His solution was to spend more money (why is this almost always the
answer?). He had both his horns and mouthpieces gold-plated. Unlike
silver, gold is pretty inert. It's either extremely resistant to corrosion
or doesn't corrode at all; he now has no problems with it.

A possible solution that might cost a lot less money would be to coat the
keys with a substance to protect them -- a lacquer or silicone perhaps.
You'd have to be careful not to gum up the works, though.

You can also buy little strips of treated paper that retard corrosion.
They're made by 3M, and are marketed to keep silverware from tarnishing.
This isn't an answer to the problem, but might slow down the chemical
process a bit.

Good luck!

kjf

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