I picked up an old 1920’s Buescher C Melody saxophone as a restoration project. (picture)
The outside of the sax is silver, the inside of the bell mouth is brass. Inside it looks like a mix of both. Almost like the horn is made of brass and it’s been dipped in silver.
Cleaning the outside has been easy. A little buff and rub with a cleaner, some Simple Green and a toothbrush, no problem.
The inside however has me stumped. It’s all cruddy, dirty, dull and nasty and is speckled with green spots.
How would one go about bringing the inside to a nice finish?
If the outside is indeed silver-plated, which it probably is, make sure you use silver polish on it, preferably something water-based so it’ll actually come off and not be so stinky.
As for the inside, it looks that way because it’s old! The inside of the horn is generally not lacquered, and the green spots are patina, as brass is partially copper. The crud might be more corrosion, but if it’s just dirt then you can try swabbing the inside out with a rag (you can buy special sax rags or just tie a rag onto one end of a string and a little weight on the other end) with lukewarm (NOT hot, as that will remove more lacquer) and dishwashing soap.
No matter what anyone tells you, do not allow Coke (or any other soda) near your sax. Don’t soak it in Coke to remove the corrosion; it’ll do more harm than good. I mean, they use it to remove bloodstains from asphalt. Do you want that near your antique saxophone? No way, man, no way. You can use it to take the crap off of plastic mouthpieces, but toothpaste and a toothbrush work just as well.
This is the type of “sax rag” that Miss Peaches up there is talking about. I advise against making your own. They tend to fall apart inside of the horn and then get stuck. I speak from, um, experience with my clarinet.
If you’re planning on restoring it to playable condition, you should take it into a place like Ward-Brodt or Kepharts and have them replace the pads, recork it, and make any other adjustments that need to be done. This can (and probably will) run you a $100+, depending on what needs to be done. If you need help finding a reputable instrument repair place in your area, check in with the local university or high school. They can suggest some place along with more advice on how to clean it.
Also, if you’re going to play it, make sure you get every last speck of silver polish off of it, as silver polish in the mouth isn’t exactly cool.
The outside is silver and a silver rub is working wonders. It’s starting to look brand new.
The rag method hasn’t done anything for the nasty insides. I’m not real keen on using something like Brasso on it as I’m afraid it will do more harm long term. I don’t think the horn has been lacquered in the bell. It doesn’t look like it.
I was hoping someone here new of a product that might be gentle enough for this type of job.
For the record, I’m doing the pads/corks myself. At least the first bit. I really want to try the entire restoration myself. I do think I’ll need to take it in someplace for the final tweak however.
Ooh, good luck on the pads and corks. Whenever I try to repair something on my clarinet, I end up not going through with it, because I love it too much to inflict myself on it in that way. Which reminds me that it needs to be recorked and re-padded. sigh There goes a hundred and eighty bucks.
I know there are cleaning plumes for saxes. Maybe you could try one of those with a mild abrasive (baking soda?) and see where that gets you.
Otherwise, call a repair shop or your local university and ask for their suggestions. At worst, they’ll tell you that only a professional can restore it. At best, and probably most likely, they’ll be able to recommend a product.
My husband (who used to work in an instrument repair shop) says that instruments of that era that are silver-plated tend to have a gold wash in the bell (light gold plating). Try a little bit of silver polish but don’t rub as hard because gold is softer than silver.
Replacing the corks and pads isn’t that bad. In high school, the music director would make me do that, as I was more or less his “personal assistant.” I’m trying to remember what brand of silver polish we use in our drum corps, which works really well. Might be Wright’s. The paste works better than the squirt-on kind, IMHO.
Also, if you do get one of those “plume” cleaners, make sure you do not leave it in the horn while it’s in the case. It holds the moisture, and will make the inside oogy.
As a follow up. For the inside silver bits vinegar seemed to clean up it just fine. The brass parts (or perhaps the gold wash as heart on my sleeve pointed out) didn’t seem to change much. I’m going to try the dab of silver cleaner.
The vinegar worked wonders. I let it sit for a few hours on a soaked rag stuffed inside the horn. After a rinse and wipe, it looked great.
