So I bought my flute about a year and a half ago. Its a Pearl Dolce CODA model. I use a Yamaha EC head joint though. The Forza has just been sitting on my dresser the whole time and I really want to try to sell it.. maybe on craigslist? I really don't know what its worth though. Its hardly played on at all, so its in like-new condition.. the forza model on FluteWorld is listed for $700 but mine has a 10k lip plate. The lip plate is also flat on the side opposite of where you put your chin/lip. How much should I ask for it? There are no scratches whatsoever.

Also, as its just been sitting there (next to a fish tank a while.. dunno if that was the problem.. or just it being too dry?) but it is dirty.. it looks like a rust color but its not rusted. It feels smooth. Maybe tarnish? It is supposed to be silver (though it doesn't indicate that on the headjoint unless the "forza" written on it is supposed to be the indicator that it is silver. That can be polished off, right? I did use my polishing cloth that came with my flute on it but that didn't really help. I had it wrapped up in that a while and i do think the hj looks quite a bit better. The lip plate looked like that a little as well but is perfectly clean now. I will definitely have it cleaned before i sell it.. how much would this probably cost to just have it taken in to be cleaned?

well i'd imagine the reason a COA cost as much as it does as certain parts are disassembled a bit but as its just a headjoint id imagine it wouldn't take a tech very long so i'd imagine it would be about half the price of the COA if that.

thats only a guess though

easiest way to remove the tarnish is to use a soft cloth and rub a little jewellers rouge on the cloth then rub the tarnish lightly and it will remove it completly jewellers rouge is the finishing compound used by tech's to give the final polish and high luster on your flute its allso a excelent way of keeping your flute looking as it did the day you bought it i do not recomend you do this to a plated flute as the plateing is only usualy 3 to 5 micron in thickness you should easily be able to get a small piece of rouge from your local friendly jeweller i play a handmade powell 10k solid gold flute and it still looks as good as the day i bought it and as a backup i have a altus 1607 with custom head platinum riser and lip plate both look as good as the day i got them as there allways cleaned with the rouge impregnated cloth hope this helps you

1)yellow and rose gold flutes will tarnish as quickly as silver flutes its the copper content in it that causes it to tarnish white gold will not as its alloyed with paladium and then usualy rodium plated to give it the bright white finish as white gold on its own still has the slight yellow tinge to the metal the only problem is rodium can not be polished it will allways remain dull as if you had gone over it with steel wool rodium is only ever used as a plating as it is a very brittle metal so the white gold must be highly polished prior to plating
2) rodium will not tarnish at all its a flash plating of a pure metal fine 9995
sterling silver flutes are plated to cover fire scale caused by the copper content as when sterling silver is spot soldered with out the use of a deoxidating agent it causes a gray film in the metal that can run quite deep the only way to remove the scale without fileing and sanding it out is by doing whats called a depletion method and that is heating the metal to a dull red and plunging it in to a pickleing solution of 2 parts solfuric acid and 8 parts water so as to deplete the surface of copper and leaveing a fine layer of pure silver fire scale will allmost allways be found in a sterling silver flute as manufactures are unable to evenly heat the whole item in a oxygen free area ie: kiln with nitrogen being fed in to it so its plated to save on the time it would take to remove it
jewellers rouge is the final compound to give the metal its bright luster it is far less abrasive as comercial liquid polishes or creams and will do far less damage to a plated flute as if there is any worn areas that come in contact with comercal polishes the polish will react with the base metal and cause the plateing to pit and flake of

Most good places that can do a COA will have an ultrasonic cleaning tank. Putting a headjoint in one for a few minutes is about the least abusive method I know of that works.

Polish does, of course, but it always causes scratches. Good for say, an old marching Tuba that nobody's going to look closely at, but most of them will cause varying degrees of damage to the surface unless they are pure liquids(which tend to get everywhere and stain things - not optimal, either)

OK, I'd price a used headjoint in excellent condition at slightly above half retail, new.

That's the price I've paid for most of mine- I bought a Miya MZ5, sterling, engraved lipplate for $350 off eBay.
I also just bought an eBay flute, for its head and footjoint- it is a Yam 285S, open holes, inline. It came with a B footjoint, and a handmade sterling Yamaha CF headjoint. I am expecting to sell the HJ for $250 or so; it's in perfect shape and it is very nice to play. (It isn't a CY, the taper is not the same.)

So, anyway, the footjoint will not be used much, but there is some pitting in the finish. Is there a way to make this thing look better, while the mechanism is off for repairs/adjustment/padding?

True, all cause some minute levels of damage. But if the thing is literally crusty with tarnish and gunk, then it's a matter of which one causes the least amount of damage to the thing.(ie - the OP's not getting out of this with zero wear/damage)

Ultrasonic cleaning seems to be the least harsh of the techniques, depending of course, on what chemicals the person uses.

OTOH, the results can be very good. Leaving it on though, will just cause it to get worse over time.

as a manufacturing jeweller/designer i use a ultrasonic on a daily basis now all jewellers i know do not use the comercial cleaning agents avalable for there ultrasonics as there expensive and realy dont do the job any where as good as a phosphate free dishwashing liquid and a dash of cloudy amonia after cleaning rinse in cold water and your done i have looked at both gold and silver before and after cleaning under x10 and x1000 microscope and i have been unable to find any pitting in the metal this combo of cleaning solutions is not tought in uni is is something that is is tought in trade most jewellers dont give away trade secrets like this as the trade is very compedative and most trade secrets are closely guarded i clean all itens in this including antique pieces some dateing to the 15th and 16th century as i specialised in antique repair and restoration i will make a post in the future with a range of trade tips for repairing solid and plated metals that will make life so much easier for repair techs

yes true a vibrating tumbeler could be used but i would not recomend it as it will wear corners of before it wears flats usualy it runs with powdered jewellers rouge and wallnut husksas a buffering agent comonly used in the jewellery industry to polish mass produced cast settings but as i said it weares edgers and corners before it wears the flat surfaces and would be very damaging.

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i wrote the top section before looking at the link to the krous system and all i can say is if i had my flute parts and keys cleaned and polished in this maner by a tech i would be going to my lawyer and sueing them for replacement keys to think thay put plated pieces in this is just madness the damage it would do to plated pieces is huge the items would come out looking with a shine but would allso look like that had a very fine mist over them and that would be the minute indents that the media would do to them not to mention the scratches that the steel parts against the much softer plated parts if i'm paying good money to a tech to clean and polish something i want to know that its been carefully done by hand and not shoved in a machine so he can do something elce

Adam,

I enjoy reading your informative posts. But I have a suggestion: Could you separate the sentences/thoughts in your long posts with either full stops (periods) or at least spaces? The posts are quite difficult to read/scan quickly because you use no punctuation. I guess this is your own preference for writing online, but it's a bit hard on the eyes!

Dividing one long paragraph into shorter paragraphs would help too!

Thanks...

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Starting sentences/thoughts with an uppercase letter would also help us scan your posts more quickly for their main ideas.

1) from the link to the vibratory tumbler the media thay are using is ceramic wich is inpregnated with a fine abrasive

2) a burnishing media is a combination of pins aproximatly 10mm long x 2mm thick pointed on both ends and made out of stainless steel and it is mixed with a flaked soap

3)final polish is a crushed walnut shell with powdered rouge

i will take some pic's of the diference in a tumbled finish and a hand finish on sterling silver and allso on plated base metal so you can see the quality of both and the damage a tumbeler will do.