oldcomebackgeezer

Hi all - I just received a newly overhauled Olds Recording from Rich Ita. It has had the valves rebuilt, and is refinished in brushed silver plate. I just love it, looks like new, and plays like a dream. For $850, it was a real bargain, in my opinion. It is virtually a brand new Recording.

My question is on proper care of brushed silver plate. I've never owned anything but lacquered horns before this one, and I don't want to screw it up. I am wondering if silver polish is a no no? Would it tend to remove the "brushed" look? I know that silver tarnishes with age, so there must be a proper way to preserve and protect the finish.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Les

Tootsall

Hi Geezer.

I've got two brushed gold plated horns here now. I simply wash them with soapy water, rinse them "hot", and remove any remaining water spots with a microfiber cloth.

I would be less concerned with "polishing" a matte silver since silver plating is quite a bit harder than gold plating. Still, one of the beauties of the matte finish is that it tends to hide finger marks, water spots, etc. and if you start to wear it down it would seriously detract from the appearance.

No matter, I don't think I would take a chance on "polishing" (which implies some degree of elbow grease) a matte finish with anything but a micro fibre cloth. You might try something like "TarniShield" which is a "rub on, let dry, rinse off and lightly buff what is left" silver cleaner/tarnish preventer. I don't think that would hurt your horn at all. I use that stuff on my (bright) silver Schilke.

I had seen Rich's website and used to peruse the stuff he had for sale, lusting after some of it and wondering how to get my hands on one of his gems. He does a great job and you have a wonderful horn there now.

trickg

This is an interesting topic and one that I would like to share some ideas about, although I'm not sure that I'll actually be contributing anything.

Toots, you mentioned that Silver plating is much harder than gold plating and while this is true, the biggest difference between the two, and the one that is likely to cause the problem, is that gold plating, while it will wear away with time, does not oxidize. Silver, however, does and with the increased surface area of exposed silver thanks to the millions of scratches, it's going to oxidize even faster than bright plating.

The one thing that I would tend to think might help your problem, is to get a large quantity of a silver dip - something that will remove oxidation without actually polishing or buffing, which will eventually wear away the plating and make it bright. I don't even know if this is feasable for someone that doesn't have the proper licenses or has a large scale need for it. Something else that might work is a very light polishing (no scrubing or excessive rubbing) with a chemical silver polish such as a Wrights Silver cream.

There is one other thing that I have seen that is supposed to work and that is the plate that you can buy. Essentially, you put it in the bottom of a sink full of water, add a solution to the water, and then set whatever it is you want to be cleaned on the plate. The process is an electrolosis or reverse electrolosis process and the oxidized silver migrates from the silver or silver plated object, and onto the special metal plate at the bottom of the sink. Then you just rinse everything off and go.

If you don't find some way to remove the silver oxidation from that horn, it won't be long before you are going to have one ugly looking trumpet.

Tootsall

Patrick, I agree with you 100% on the oxidation issue. That is why I would use (and mentioned) Tarni Shield if anything. I do use Tarni Shield on my own silver horns and it does a great job at a) cleaing up finger marks, grease smears, etc., b) removing old tarnish, and c) delaying the onset of fresh tarnish.

As far as this electro-chemical dip is concerned.... it might work.... I've seen the ads on TV. On the other hand they don't do a very good job of showing the effects of repeated use over a period of, say 5 or 10 years!

I am afraid that I have a personal philosophy much akin to the State Motto for Missouri... "Show Me" when it comes to "miracle cures".

I still think that Geezer has one heck of a horn there and I'd love to see photos of it.

oldcomebackgeezer

I appreciate the suggestions so far. I will try to post pictures of the trumpet, but haven't done this on the forum before, so don't know if it will work or not!

Here goes: www.qsl.net/kc0pto/oldsrecording.html

Les


Note: The link was messed up, but now it should work after editing it.

oldcomebackgeezer

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oldcomebackgeezer

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Tootsall

How about this:




You should have right clicked on the picture within the website and then selected (and copied) the "Properties" c/w the .jpg extension instead of the html.

Lovely looking instrument. I'll bet it plays as good as it looks.

oldcomebackgeezer

Thanks Tootsall. As you can tell, I'm still a beginner at this kind of stuff, even though I've built 3 or 4 different websites. The one I made for my Ham Radio club is even pretty extensive: www.qsl.net/emporiaars
but I am still learning as I go. I was trying to make a link to the webpage so the comments I had made about the Olds could be read. I have made another page without the space between olds and recording, so that should make a "clickable" link. To see the comments, click here www.qsl.net/kc0pto/oldsrecording.html

Yes, it plays as good as it looks. I had bought a Olds Recording in a LA pawnshop around 1957 for $125 in as new condition. I should have kept it, but I didn't play for 35 + years, and just started my comeback about two years ago. That one also played very good. The price sure has gone up since then!! I have been struggling with what I thought was just poor chops since I started the comeback, playing a $75 King Cleveland "Superior" from the 1970's. Well, I still have poor chops, but the Olds has improved my playing by at least 50% in just a few hours of playing. I have always heard that a good trumpet player will sound good on just about any quality of instrument, but for someone with not so good chops, a good instrument is an immense help. Before, my lips would get really tired after only about 15 minutes of practice, and I didn't have good tone or high range. Now, my tone is greatly improved, the high range comes much easier, and extends 2 or 3 notes higher reliably, and my lips are now able to withstand almost an hour of practice at a time. A remarkable improvement, just due to having a good horn.

As you can imagine, I'm tickled to death, especially since playing in the Community Orchestra and the summer City Band is making my "Senior Years" so much more enjoyable. I had always wanted to be a professional musician since High School, and was even a music major for my first year of college, finally realizing that I didn't play well enough for that to happen. Now, after 50 years, because the City pays it's band members a small stipend (around $150 for the season) I can now claim to be a "Paid Professional Musician"

Les