Have you ever heard of this?

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khal
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Joined: Tue Dec 03, 2002 6:00 pm

Have you ever heard of this?

Post by khal »

I recently bought an Adler-Heinrich chalumeau (Baroque clarinet) from Antique Sound Workshop in MA. When I got the (new) instrument, the tenon rings were all tarnished. I called the company and they said that Adler doesn't use laquer on the silver plated tenon rings for environmental reasons and so they tarnish easily. He said that they were polished with silver polish before the chalumeau was sent out, and that it must have tarnished during shipping (3 days, in a box?). He also said that they would need to be polished 2-3 times per week.

This seems weird to me but I don't have enough experience to know if it is true. Ever had something like this happen?

Kim
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Terry McGee
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Post by Terry McGee »

Seems a bit weird to me, Tim. Silver, including silver plating, will tarnish quickly in sulphurous environments, like near a gasometer, but under normal circumstances it's pretty slow to tarnish. Some people have very acidic sweat that will also tarnish silver within a few days - you can usually tell if this has happened as there are finger prints in the tarnish.

I normally suggest people who wish to keep their silver gleaming give it a rub over once per week with a silver cloth (available from music stores and jewellers). I wouldn't expect to see real tarnish at the end of the week - just that the silver had dulled a little.

A weekly polish is fine when you have solid silver rings, but keep in mind your silver plating will only be 30 micrometers deep - a polishing every few days as recommended would soon eat through that.

Sometimes silver plating fails - usually when the base metal underneath hadn't been adequately cleaned. If the base metal is "nickel silver" it will look more yellowish than silver, especially as it tarnishes - if you see that, then you know you are through the plating.

Terry
khal
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Post by khal »

Thanks for the info, Terry.

Kim
Tim2723
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Post by Tim2723 »

Hi Kim.

There is one other thing to check for. See if the metal is truely tarnished or simply hazed. If the dullness can be wiped away with a tissue moistened with the breath, it is a haze caused by a deposit of volatile materials near the metal, such as the instrument's new finish or the glue of the case that is still evaporating. I have had many occassions where metals loose their shine due to haze deposits. If the instrument came with a case, and if that case has a strong odor, it is possibly the glue that is depositing on the metal surface. Leave the case open for several days until the odor is gone. Tarnish is an actual chemical change in the metal while haze is a deposit. If it happens again very quickly, it is unlikely to be true tarnish, as Terry said.
The crwth will set you free!

Tim Smith
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pipesergeant
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Post by pipesergeant »

I took a set of Highland pipes with me to Florida once. They were in their case, I had recently polished the nickel silver ferrules, and when I opened the box to play them in Florida, literally 20 hours later, they were completely tarnished.......I just chalked it up to the humidity but I really have no idea why it happened.

Just sharing a similar experience. No idea what caused it. They polished right back up and after leaving Florida, back to Ohio, it never happened again......

Real .925 Sterling silver stays polished a long long time compared to silver/nickel plating.

Shawn
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