 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Corey
Date: 2001-08-11 18:07
Is it good to use polishes on keys? like selmer or other brands?
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-08-11 18:44
I would recommend againts liquids. They need to dry which means residue will drop around the keywork & into the "works". I also think the liquids are MORE abrasive than the cloths which are sold. If you must use something, I would recommend the latter & very sparingly. Be usre to read the directions & by cloths which are recommended for the various types of plating finish (silver, nickel).
The BEST thing to use is a clean white cotton DIAPER cloth. They are NOt abrasive and will clean off excess oils/acids/residue that your fingers bring. They are inexpensive and can also be used to clean eyeglasses and sunglasses.
Best,
mw
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-08-11 18:45
Oh yes --- use the white cotton cloth AFTER you play your clarinet ... each time, just like swabbing it out ... EVERY TIME. mw
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Author: Robert Gifford
Date: 2001-08-11 19:00
I use a silver polish treated cloth sometimes, its made for clarinet keys, trumpets and/or flutes. The brand of the one I use is "Glo-Cloth" for silver plated finish. its like $1.99 I think at Mars Music for the cloth, and it works really well.
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-08-11 19:57
Robert, I bought a MARS brand cloth about six months ago. I ended up throwing it away --- I thought it was extremely abrasive. BUT, so are the yellow Selmer's. I have found a BLUE cloth (can't remember the brand) which I prefer. The problem is if we could SEE (under a scope) what it's actually doing to the plating --- we'd rarely use it. I use them on badly tarnished horns that don't need an overhaul --- that's how I make sense of them anyway.
Really, a professional with a buffing rig is way better than US using these silly rags.
Certainly, I am open to any (new) ideas.
best,
mw
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-08-11 21:01
I have a Yamaha cloth for silver flutes that I use on my clarinets. If you look in the flute department of a music store you'll probably find tons of non abrasive polishing cloths.
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Author: jbutler
Date: 2001-08-12 00:25
Okay guys......go to your local Bed Bath and Beyond and get yourself a spray can of Haggerty's. Get yourself a clean flannel cloth. I buy the cheap ones at Wal-mart that come bundled about ten to a bunch. They are already hemmed (sewn). You can buy them yellow or white whichever your preference. Hold your cloth out about arms reach and spray it very lightly with the Haggerty's. Now go watch TV or something for about ten minutes while the spray dries a little. Now you are ready to wipe down your keys. Don't verdo the spray and you'll have yourself a nice little polish cloth that will last you a few weeks and it isn't overly abrasive.
John
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Author: Corey
Date: 2001-08-12 01:24
would a piece of fleece(which is extremely soft!)be abraisive?
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-08-12 02:44
Corey, it's NOT the cloth so much. It's the ingredients INSIDE the Silver Polish. The Polish contains abrasive material. If you stop to think about bringing a SHINE to a piece of metal, you will realize that you need SOME abrasion to rid the metal surface of chemicals & whatnot which have begin to ADHERE to the outer surface.
Now, I always use cotton or t-shirt materials. WHY? Because the optician I use always warns me about my eyeglasses. He says to be careful of 2 things - materials which by themselves are hard on the lenses & also to avoid rubbing DIRT (dust & particles) INTO the surface of my lenses. Makes sense to me. I make sure that I dust off an object I am cleaning before I polish it.
Best,
mw
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Author: Laurie
Date: 2001-08-12 04:25
John -
What about the Haggerty's polishing cloth ?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-08-12 05:47
If cotton would scratch the keys then I wonder what my fingernails would do?
Y'all - just play the danged thing! A quick wipe with a clean cloth is all that you should do if you're unlucky enough to have skin that tarnishes the keys - anything else (especially cloths with any abrasives) is asking for trouble. If they continue to tarnish - live with it, 'cause abrasive polishing will only wear through the palting faster.
My silver keys aren't tarnished to speak of and I never have had to polish them. Just genes, I guess.
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-08-12 08:04
Actually, you might get longer wear on silverplate by leaving the tarnish ON versus rubbing your keys with an abrasive cleaner. As far as I can see tarnish does not do worrisome damage, corrosion does. We've discussed what cause corrosion .... acidity and humitity. Excess humidity is a problem.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-08-12 18:05
Corey mentioned "fleece". Do you mean wool fleece? Wool contains sulphur which is ememy No. 1 for tarnishing silver.
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Author: beejay
Date: 2001-08-13 09:56
I use a micropore cloth, which has the aspect of very fine chamois leather but which is actually an extremely soft artificial material. Hagerty make one called Jeweller's Cloth, although I found a bigger and cheaper one at my music store. It is white, and NOT to be confused with Hagert's Jewelry cleaning cloth, which is red. Avoid anything with red in it has jeweller's rouge, which is abrasive. In fact avoid all cleaning products. If you act quickly, you can rub off tarnish with a cotton tip (get the kind on a wooden stock to avoid scratching) and some distilled water. In my grandmother's (1924) book of household tips I found a recommendation to use natural camphor as a way of preventing tarnish. I keep a tiny piece wrapped in cling film in my instrument case and so far it seems to be working after several months.
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Author: Robert Gifford
Date: 2001-08-14 04:13
mw, the cloth I got is a blue color, not made by mars, its made by a company called Bruno
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Author: Blake
Date: 2001-08-14 19:26
Dont forget that if you have a rubber mouthpiece or rubber thumb rest, it may be off-gassing sulphur dioxide which can tarnish silver. Placing a piece of 3-M brand tarnish strips in your case helps prevent that kind of tarnishing. Iver read here on the list a while ago about these and its helped mine from tarnishing along with wiping down after use and the "blue" cloth for the stubborn bits that dont wipe off.
Blake Velde
Arlington VA
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