I occasionally see a musician playing a tuba (sometimes french horn?) that has a definite greenish cast to it. Do some musicians allow their instruments to develop a natural patina?
BTW; I’ve only noticed this on tv, in orchestras, and the camera didn’t pause for very long.
Peace,
mangeorge
I don’t think the patina is desirable. I have an old baritone that I pull out once a year for TubaChristmas that has a patina and it stinks. At the end of the day my hands and clothes smell like I’ve been rolling in old coins.
The patina is an unfortunate result of the material of the instrument. If you like the way it sounds and feels, and/ or can’t afford a new one (tubas are expensive) you just live with the patina. You don’t encourage it.
Most tubas made in the last half of the last century or so either came with a lacquered finish or had lacquer applied later. Sometimes the lacquer peels off unevenly and then the horn will tarnish unevenly.
Earlier tubas often were raw brass, and that definitely tarnishes. A lot. Not only can it make your clothes smell, as ZipperJJ notes, it can leave black and green streaks. Owning a raw brass instrument means taking the time to clean it.
Tarnish and patina are two different thing. Patina is desirable. If cared for properly, a lovely old instrument will glow like fine old silverware does. You wouldn’t want to eat with dirty silverware, but if you clean it while leaving the patina, the value increases and so does the beauty.
Are you sure they’re different things? I thought tarnish was part of developing the patina. Some sort of oxidation has to be involved, or the patina would develop all through the metal. I’m talking about tubas, not forks. I use stainless.
I can’t answer that scientifically, as I’m not a chemist or a metallurgist, but I’ve polished a lot of silverware and watched my husband clean and polish a lot of brass. He doesn’t polish it so it’s shiny-bright. If he’s playing his squeaky-clean 80-year-old horn next to a guy with a brand-new horn, you still can tell the difference, because there is just a luster you can’t get with new.
Nor am I. I wikied it and got a lot of info, but not specifically how to go from tarnish to patina. I’m curious now, so I’l look a little deeper.
So, you live with a tuba player? :eek: I know a woman (co-worker) who’s husband plays bagpipes. He sometimes serenades her, in full regalia, from outside the workplace. I think that’s pretty romantic, as does she. 