[TheBrettster]

Well I bought my Silver YAS82Z in June of this year. I've tried to keep my hands off the body and just on the buttons but being in my college marching band, it didn't last long. So this leads me to my problem. I spent a pretty penny on this sax and I would love to keep it looking new. I've noticed it has many small scratches that go in a sort of circular pattern all over the sax even places where my hands haven't touched, almost like spidering on the paint of cars. I've tried blue clothes which help but they are still there.

Is there anything I could do to try to remove the scratches ?

 

[Saxplayer67]

Well I bought my Silver YAS82Z in June of this year. I've tried to keep my hands off the body and just on the buttons but being in my college marching band, it didn't last long. So this leads me to my problem. I spent a pretty penny on this sax and I would love to keep it looking new. I've noticed it has many small scratches that go in a sort of circular pattern all over the sax even places where my hands haven't touched, almost like spidering on the paint of cars. I've tried blue clothes which help but they are still there.

Is there anything I could do to try to remove the scratches ?

Trade it in for a non-silver plated sax! If they're that fragile, why don't they apply a hard wearing clear lacquer over the silver plate?

 

[TheBrettster]

You know what I have no idea why they didn't. I do love the silver color and I think I would lose money if I traded it in.

 

[Pitagoras]

Yamaha has a silver polishing cloth (the rose one). It's not expensive. I think it's very effective for what you want.
I had one but I didn't used it much. I love to see my silver horn getting darker by the touch of my hands.

 

[Face Ache Mike]

I wouldnt swap my silver 875 for anything else - apart from maybe a silver ref 54! I use the Selmer silver polishing mitts to good effect. Mine had those minute swirly scratches, they`ll go with enough buffing.

 

[alleysax]

Silver is a bit of work but worth it IMO. I love my silver R&C--wouldn't trade it for anything. I just use a Selmer silver polishing cloth, wipe it down after I play, just a quick swipe usually to get rid of fingerprints. Every now and then I really polish it. Tiny scratches come out with buffing. 3M antitarnish strips in your case might help to avoid tarnishing, I don't think they really do anything, but there's one in my case right now.
Or, you could always have it lacquered if you want.

 

[Dave Dolson]

I use silver-mitts (available where fine dinnerware is sold - usually) on my silver-plated saxophones. However, the only silver-plated saxophone that tarnished badly while I owned it was a Yamaha YSS62S. My daughter has it now. That horn requires a lot of work to keep it from turning black (and bruise-purple ugly).

A silver-plated R&C alto came to me with those 3M strips in the case. I don't know if they worked or not. I left them in there hoping they did.

One of my two Buescher TT sops (both silver plated) has a clear coat of lacquer over the matte-silver finish (an after-market application before I acquired it). NO tarnishing problems with that horn. The other one (a polished silver plate) needs an occasional wipe-down with the mitts - but "occasional" is only that - not too often.

If your YAS82Z is anything like my YSS62S, then you are in for the silver-mitt gig. DAVE

 

[LampLight]

Do yourself a favor and at least check out the saxforte page on polishing cloths. They do the best job I've seen of explaining which products go with which saxes. Other than that, you might try asking Yamaha (lol) or whoever you bought the sax from.

ps I have no relation to saxforte except as a customer.

 

[TheBrettster]

Thanks for all the info guys. I'll be sure to give these all a try.

Edit: I also wouldn't want to trade my silver 82Z, I love the way it looks

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

If you like the look of a silver saxophone, then unless you are going to spend a LOT of time regularly polishing all parts, or get clear lacquer over all that silver (which ruins the look of silver), then you also unfortunately need to get used to liking a tarnished silver saxophone.

Quite simply, silver is not suitable for a sax if you want it to carry on looking good without a LOT of attention. You have to be practical about these things.

 

[reedsburn62]

How about buying a cheap backup horn for marching band. I'm not being facetious, just practical. Marching band is a great way to ruin a great horn.

 

[TheBrettster]

Yeah i have a YAS 23 but it just doesn't play the same.

 

[JerryJamz2]

Yeah i have a YAS 23 but it just doesn't play the same.

It sounds the same from the 10th row in the bleachers..

 

[thejoyofsax]

How about buying a cheap backup horn for marching band. I'm not being facetious, just practical. Marching band is a great way to ruin a great horn.

+1

The heat, the cold, the rain, setting it down on the ground all the time ... giving your horn two or three years of those harsh elements will send it packing for sure.

 

[hansmartini]

Yeah i have a YAS 23 but it just doesn't play the same.

Spent 30 years ruining saxes and other woodwinds in marching bands. I read (maybe on a forum) that Yanks are smarter. They bought plastic for parades. The old theory in the Canadian military was that if was good enough for parades it was good enough for concerts- and vice versa. As a result, I had two MKI Selmers- 1 for parades, 1 for concerts. If we had bought plastic then that is what the Generals would have us use for both. Get yourself a cheap horn for parades. Nobody will know the difference and you will save yourself sure heartbreak.
Hans

 

[Helen]

To minimize the tarnish buildup on my silver horns, I swear by the silver strips in the case. I have the Hagerty's rather than the 3M, but they do the same thing.

I tape a number of them in the case (the number of them is dependant on the size of the case, 1 for the soprano, 6 for the bass, 3 for tenor) and replace them every year or so.

The trick is to keep the horn in the case & the case latched when not using it. Also, when you've got the horn out, to keep the case closed. This makes the strips last longer. For some of the horns I hardly play, I've had the same strips in the case for more than 3 years, and I've had minimal tarnishing....I hate polishing my horns, and generally never do it...But then I play vintage horns, so the blackening adds to their mystique.

 

[guedotkp]

I have a turn of the century Martin Handcraft in Silver. I rarely have to polish or clean it and it does not tarnish. The secret: Peek metal polish and a case lined with silver cloth. When I got the horn, it was severely tarnished. I immediately broke it down and gave it a thorough polish with peek. Peek is a non-abrasive metal polish that cleans and leaves a long lasting coating on the metal. It soen't effect the thickness of the horn or tone like many other metal polishes. It is available at http://www.peekpolish.com/

After you polish it, the trick is upkeep. I always wipe the horn down with a soft cloth before I put it in the case. I build my own cases and always line them with silver cloth (the same thing you use to keep silverware from tarnishing). I'm sure that it would not be hard to retrofit a case with this cloth. That keeps the chemical reaction between the oils, air, and the silver from happening. Once a month or so I go over it with the two stage selmer polishing cloth (yellow treated on the inside, tan buffing cloth on the outside.

I've been doing this for 13 years and it has never tarnished or gotten dingy!

Good luck!
r. Lukat

 

[bari_sax_diva]

Well, since this thread is active...

I just got a silverplated Yamaha bari that will probably function mostly as my backup horn. It's in awfully good shape overall, and is at the repair shop right now to get a couple of issues fixed. But it's been sitting for a couple of years, so there's a fair bit of tarnish to be dealt with. Any recommendations for that extensive session I'll spend cleaning it up once I get it back? I don't expect I'll be too fanatical about this once it's done (I'm not with my alto), but I do want to give it a good once-over to start things off.

Also, the keys on this horn are gold-plated and don't look bad at all. Any upkeep recommendations for those, other than wiping them down on occasion?

Thanks in advance,
Leanne

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

Peek is a non-abrasive metal polish ...

A good sales line, often seen, but what exactly does it mean? Peak seems to contain some powder of some sort, and that is almost certainly abrasive, quite likely cerium oxide. Otherwise, why put it in? A material does not have to be aluminium oxide, carborundum, or diamond to be called abrasive. Most solids are indeed abrasive to some degree.

Peek also contains some ammoniated compound, as do many (but not all) metal polishes. Probably the less harsh the abrasive they have, the more of this chemical attacking agent they have.

I don't know how much damage is done during quick use of the product. However it has been incriminated for putting stress corrosion cracking in copper alloys.

BTW, as far as I know, Brasso contains ammoniatred compounds and cerium oxide.

Nothing is simple!

 

[guedotkp]

All polishes clean, thus have an abrasive, however peek is mild enough to be used even to deep clean laquer without softening, stripping, or affecting it at all. If you do the upkeep right and use silver cloth to surround a silver horn, you should never need to do a full polish again. Also try Flitz, it is non-amonia based and also mild. I have used both of these polishes on multiple horns with absolutely no ill effects (granted I only do it once and take care of it after)!