 The Fingering Forum
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Author: Mike
Date: 2005-04-05 02:35
I had my R13 B660 clarinet for over 2.5 years now. I practice every day, and clean it out throughly after i am done. Recently, I have been noticing that some keys were getting discolored. For example, the thumb key is turning red. Is my clarinet rusting? Can i stop it? Or is the silver colored metal somehow wearing out?
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Author: richard
Date: 2005-04-08 04:28
The discoloration of the silver plated keys is due to the reaction of the silver content with the sulphur and other oxidant in the air. Therefore the clarinet should always be stored in its case when not in use rather than staying on stands.
Some brands of mouthpiece made of hard rubber, like the Vandoren... will tarnish the silver plated keys while keeping with the clarinet in the same case. Therefore you should store the mouthpiece (if made of hard rubber) separately from the clarinet.
In the worse case, you may made the tarnish keys shine again by rubbing with a silver cloth available from the Music store. You may also put a anti-tarnish strips in the clarinet case to prevent the keys from further discoloring.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2005-04-10 11:45
The reddish color is NOT the silver tarnishing and you can't get rid of it by polishing. It is the silver plating wearing thin and the underplating showing through. Polishing will only make it wear faster.
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