My flute has spots on certain keys where it is not silver anymore. It`s more of a brown tarnished color. How can I fix it. Is there anything I can put on my flute without damaging it? Thanks.


Chelci

Ah...Is your flute silver plated? If so the silver could be rubbing off.

Had the plating already worn off and the metal itelf if rusting? You may want to send it to a repair person to clean as best as possible or buy a new flute.

If it`s just "tarnish" growing on silver plate due to neglect you can use a silver polish cloth designed for instruments from a music store. Only use it to remove the neglect and make sure to wipe your flute clean with a soft cotton cloth after each use there after.

I think it is silver. Actually, I found this flute and no one claimed it so I kept it. The lip plate isn`t brown or anything. It just looks faded. The only brown spot is where the left thumb is supposed to go. It`s a really small spot.

So... I can buy a cloth that will shine my flute?

Chelci

There are silver polishing cloths that are imbued with chemicals that fight tarnish. Some are extremely potent and would rub off substantial silver which can affect tone and is why you want to get cloths designed for use on silver musical instruments as they are not harsh and should get the job done.

You should be able to get it cleaned from a music repair person for $30-50 US, but if that flute`s serial number has been reported as stolen they may be forced to retain the flute and call the police. You can call the manufacturer of the flute or check with local police to see if was reported before you take it in to be safe.

Thanks a lot. You`ve been a big help.


Chelci

Some good advice.

However, you will never, by hand, rub off enough metal to affect tone. With a heavy hand behind a gutsy electric buff - maybe.

If the lip plate alone is dull, then it could well be that the silver plating has gone, and you are looking at the cupro-nickel base metal. It is similar to what coins are made from, and gets dull. However it polishes up well with BRASS polish. However Brass polish is aggressive on silver and should be used as little as possible.

BTW polishes that are SPECIFICALLY designed for silver should not say that they also polish harder metals such as brass, chrome, nickel.

A good, appropriate silver polish will barely make any difference to tarnish on these harder metals.

There is no such thing as a single polish that is appropriate for all metals, no matter how much marketing hype you may read on the packaging of polishes marketed by those with low integrity. I suspect that Pico was referring to one of these when he/she wrote "Some are extremely potent"

Technicians have a range of polishing methods not usually available to the player of the instrument.

Best one I`ve used is the Towntalk
Silver polishing cloth made by the
Towntalk Polish Co Ltd
Bolton UK BL1 2TQ (Established 1895)
This is for silver plating, if the
silver plating has worn off you are
looking at the plating underlay,
(copper colour) or Brass base metal
(yellow colour) Nickel Silver base
metal (yellowish silver colour) or
worst of all Steel base metal (grey
black colour). If it is the plating
worn off, all you can do is to
contact the manufacturer and have the part replaced or find a local
plating works that will strip and
re-plate the part.

Doug