TromboneChat

I've got an very early Holton Special from Frank Holton in Chicago. My Dad got it (used) in the late 1930's (I think), and it was old then. It is in fairly decent shape, (somewhat playable) and I want to clean up the tarnish, keep it pretty, but don't want any harsh abrasives and such. My mother used to go at it with silver polish, then complain when the tarnish came back, and go at it again. It's been in storage for something like 40 years, so it's time now to take better care of it. Any input on how to start safely cleaning this up would be greatly appreciated.

Dave Ax

Do the boiling water/baking soda/aluminum foil trick.
The aluminum foil needs to be in good contact with the horn. Through electrolysis action the tarnish (sulfur) comes off the silver and deposits onto the aluminum, so there's no loss of silver. You'd need a big container, the horn must be fully submerged.
.

Thanks, that's the first time I've heard of that, I'm going to look into it.

Dave Ax

Generally I don't mind the look of tarnished silver - gives an old instrument its own character. But I did allow my tech to give my silver King Saxello a CLEAR COAT OF LACQUER on his recommendation, so that it won't tarnish again, seeing as he'd already de-tarnished it while restoring it.
Otherwise, you'll need to keep doing that procedure periodically. My 2c. Cheers...

I think modern polish like Hagerty's or Wrights will be less abrasive and contains anti-tarnish agents that will make the shine last longer. It will take some elbow grease. I'd probably leave it well enough alone, or pay to have it cleaned and polished professionally.

I had a 1927 Frank Holton for a while and it was slightly less tarnished than yours. I took it to the local repair shop and they charged me $55 for a dip cleaning and buff. It came back looking like the day it was made. Worth every penny. After that I would just wipe it down with a dry cloth or Neverdull (comes in a can with cotton wadding and is non-abrasive).

A horn like that should be professionally cleaned about once a year. It's a small cost to keep it looking great.

All silver polishes remove some silver.
The advantage to the electrolysis method I mentioned above is that it only removes the sulfur and leaves all of the silver. Old horns typically have a pretty thick layer of silver but it will wear through with enough silver polishing.

And it's particularly good on a matte finish silver where you really don't want to use polish.

Though I would give that electrolysis method a shot, using this guide as a... guide:

https://www.instructables.com/Polishing ... s-Methods/

The first one, that is.

I had some alright results with a heavily tarnished Bach 1 1/4GM and a Laskey 93D.

Before:



After:

OK, got a load of baking soda, a bunch of salt, tin foil, hot water, and a 5 gallon bucket. Still the whole bell section wouldn't fit, but that's OK. . . It certainly works. Not a professional job, but great results for very little effort!

Great - anything that retains some plating thickness on an instrument of this age is worth a try.

Haven't tested this, but I suspect there might be a substantial difference in the results from the electrolysis method if you properly clean/degrease the object surface before the baking soda/aluminum foil bath.

Yes, probably. But you can also do it multiple times with no ill effect.