[zxcvbnm]

On a lot of vintage plated horns, you see wear through to brass at the usual touch points (palm keys, side keys, pinky keys). Suppose you have a horn with perfect silver plate, how much regular playing would it take for the silver plating to wear through? And what is the best way to prevent this from happening?

 

[turf3]

I doubt there's anything you can do to prevent this.

For a couple data points, I have four saxophones between 70 and 90 years old with silver plating. The one I've played the most, the baritone, I've been playing as my primary instrument since 1984 and there's been considerable wear to the plating in those 36 years; not enough to notice from 5 feet away, but up close I can tell.

Think of it as patina and embrace it. Personally I like knowing that this instrument has been with me for almost four decades and I'm totally adapted to it.

 

[kreacher]

The best way to prevent it is abstinence. Just showcase your horns behind a glass and be done with it! Face the facts, they are instruments that we utilize for a purpose, making music, they are not (but can be, of course) works of art just to stay in perfect untouched state.

I mean, you could utilize something like a mpc protector (teeth protector?) rubber thingy where you are in contact with the horn. No wear then, but also kinda ruins the looks no?

 

[Pete Thomas]

You could always wear the white gloves. Someone has to.

Other things to try:

Always make sure you wipe dirt, grease and sweat off
Get another layer of plating added
Get it lacquered

 

[JayeLID]

On a lot of vintage plated horns, you see wear through to brass at the usual touch points (palm keys, side keys, pinky keys). Suppose you have a horn with perfect silver plate, how much regular playing would it take for the silver plating to wear through? And what is the best way to prevent this from happening?

The thing is, right in your opening query there exists two separate scenarios, in a way.

Yes, vintage plated horns do show wear to plating. But actually, if you think about it (and I dunno if folks are aware of this as much as I may be, since I obviously get a LOT more saxes in and out of my hands than most)...the vast majority of old silverplate horns show miraculously GOOD wear resistance, really. I mean, it's fair to say there's as much of a chance of acquiring a vintage silverplate horn which still looks really GOOD as there is acquiring one which has significant plating wear (I'd actually say MORE plated horns I have refurbed looked quite good as opposed to fair or worse).

I mention this only because....there seems to be significant difference in 'old' plating as compared to the plating quality on many newer horns. I have seen some pretty iffy plate quality on a fair number of new horns....I mean horn perhaps 10 years old already showing hues of the brass in areas which are NOT commonly touched.

So, in an instance of a contemporary silverplate job of questionable quality, you may well be in a no-win situation.

Now back to the crux of your question:

As you know, and everyone here as well, the plate wear is most typical at areas where the fingers are regularly touching the surface (spat keys, palm key touches, side key touches, octave key touch)...then next to areas where one commonly 'holds' or 'carries' the horn when it is NOT being played (front-ish of bell, back-ish of body tube, etc).

As noted by others, 'prevent' those areas from acquiring plate wear ? You'd have to not touch it, basically. That's the 'bad news'.

The 'good' news is (not so good really, but)...one can have bare brass areas which are developing....spot-plated (usually chemically spot-plated), although there is also an electro spot plating method which exists. This is somewhat ephemeral a solution....but I mention only because it IS available and it CAN 'bring back' worn areas to show as 'silvery' again....it just might not hold up as long, thus require re-treatments.

Therefore, the best solution is probably, as Turf illustrates, changing your state of mind: if it's an eventual inevitability, just embrace it as being part of owning a silverplate instrument.

 

[datsaxman]

Yes, silverplate wears through. I have several silverplated horns older than me that still look great.

I like silver a bunch better than lacquer ... or raw brass.

 

[JayeLID]

Me too.....when someone tells me they are gonna have their horn relacqued, or strip ff the old lacq and let it stay bare brass, I usually suggest they actually get it plated instead.

 

[datsaxman]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



... What he said .....

 

[CashSax]

Gloves

 

[Tenor Mattness]

You could epoxy dip your horn.

 

[swperry1]

Would gloves really prevent wear at the touch points? Yes, fingerprints contribute to tarnish patterns, but there would be no tarnish on the parts you touch while playing, so Isn’t the wear more a friction/ rubbing thing than the effects of bodily secretions and environment? I mean, pretty is nice, but do you want to play the thing or have a museum piece? Not like you can see the wear from more than a few feet away...especially if you’re playing the instrument and covering the wear spots.

 

[zxcvbnm]

Would gloves really prevent wear at the touch points? Yes, fingerprints contribute to tarnish patterns, but there would be no tarnish on the parts you touch while playing, so Isn't the wear more a friction/ rubbing thing than the effects of bodily secretions and environment? I mean, pretty is nice, but do you want to play the thing or have a museum piece? Not like you can see the wear from more than a few feet away...especially if you're playing the instrument and covering the wear spots.

I heard that it might not be healthy to touch bare brass with your skin. Looks are not the main concern.

 

[milandro]

On a lot of vintage plated horns, you see wear through to brass at the usual touch points (palm keys, side keys, pinky keys). Suppose you have a horn with perfect silver plate, how much regular playing would it take for the silver plating to wear through? And what is the best way to prevent this from happening?

This is something that you can never tell beforehand, some brands were plated very thick , some silverplate was more blueish or yellowish, they reacted differently to wear and to air corrosion.

The best way to protect the wear is lacquering over silver but what happens when the lacquer wears out? Super 20 had silver necks lacquered over (sometimes the lacquer actually made them look gold lacquered!) and Silversonic had bells lacquered clear or gold.

My lacquered silver neck looks very warn out (on the protective lacquer, exposing more and more of the silver underneath).

Keeping your saxophone clean is a very good thing BUT bare silver reacts with the air (again not all silverplate reacts the same way).

A friend of mine is now nanocoating a lot of his " silver" and he appears to have reached good results

I heard that it might not be healthy to touch bare brass with your skin. Looks are not the main concern.

I am not sure what you mean by this, very few people have allergic reactions to brass and copper (themselves) but they are really a limited percentage of the population.

 

[adamk]

Some flute players have corrosive sweat and use nail polish on the touches.

I use it on the sax mpc table where the plating is corroding through.

 

[kymarto]

On a lot of vintage plated horns, you see wear through to brass at the usual touch points (palm keys, side keys, pinky keys). Suppose you have a horn with perfect silver plate, how much regular playing would it take for the silver plating to wear through? And what is the best way to prevent this from happening?

Worth noting that some people have more acidic sweat, which will eat through silver plate much faster than sweat with a higher pH.

 

[Dr G]

I heard that it might not be healthy to touch bare brass with your skin. Looks are not the main concern.

Please cite sources for stuff like that. If it is credible, I'd like to read it.

What are the health issues?

 

[swperry1]

I heard that it might not be healthy to touch bare brass with your skin. Looks are not the main concern.

Where'd you hear that?

 

[lydian]

I’d also be interested to know where you heard this. Are you sure it was touching and not ingestion?

 

[turf3]

Considering that all your drinking water most likely passes through fixtures of brass (it's not plated on the inside) I'd not be too worried.

 

[Sigmund451]

Considering that all your drinking water most likely passes through fixtures of brass (it's not plated on the inside) I'd not be too worried.

Ive mentioned that many times with the worry of lead in brass. Like mocs have 3 percent or less...many water fixtures have as much as 20 percent...especially older ones.

I like silver plated horns but Im to lazy to own one.