cmg

I just picked up a mid 80's Getzen 300 cornet to clean up as there's no cornets in the collection. The silver plating looks as though it was never cleaned or polished with large areas of the bell, inside and outside, appearing as almost black stains. The valve casings and most of the rest of the horn were covered with an almost dark purple patina, which cleans up relatively nicely with 3M Tarnishield. The problem is the dark "stains". Tarnishield has reduced the size of the stains, but will not remove them completely. I've never seen this level of staining on any of my silver horns in over 35 years.

What's going on here? Has the copper in the brass under the silver become oxidized? Is there any way to "spot clean" these stains, possibly with one of the silver dip cleaning solutions? I don't have much into the horn and don't intend to spend much on it. Thanks for any ideas you may have.

Chris

P.S. Oh yeah, after the initial soaking/internal cleaning, the valves behave like all typically fast, buttery smooth Getzen valves! At least that part of the horn is good...