Re: Homeopathic Tubas (cleaning/polishing)


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Posted by Wade on March 07, 2004 at 21:51:59:

In Reply to: Homeopathic Tubas (cleaning/polishing) posted by je on March 07, 2004 at 19:45:19:

Oddly enough, many restaurants will occasionally "super clean" glass coffee pots by filling them about halfway with ice, salt and fresh lemon juice. By swirling this slurry around inside the pot, the salt and citric acid act as a de-scaler to remove hard water deposits. It can be slow, but the pots end up looking brand new.

You will not harm your tuba with this, beyond maybe etching a fine satin look to it. I would keep it off of rotor bearings or pistons. Your concoction is an abrasive, albeit a VERY mild one. You are not polishing the metal so much as "scrubbing" it. I would limit these cleanings to only once or twice each year, personally.

BTW - nothing can "remove" red rot. Red rot is an irreversible process where the affected area of brass has the zinc leached from the alloy. This leaves the copper intact, but in a soft and porous form that will crumble and break. Once the zinc is removed from the brass, it is no longer brass, but copper, and cannot regain that golden tint. What probably happened when you cleaned your tuba is that some stubborn discoloration was removed leaving shiny brass in its place. That is good news for you, as spots of red rot must be carefully cleaned up and patched. In many cases, red rot will require that the entire affected part be removed and replaced.

Wade "full of happy thoughts tonight" Rackley


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