I was recently gifted an older Copeland low D (while busking!) that hasn’t been played for years. It’s got quite a lot of that greenish tarnish that often occurs with brass. I’m trying to figure out the best way to remove all that gunk thoroughly without doing any damage to the windway and block. I have a nylon/plastic plumber’s brush that I can use for the bore, but not sure how to deal with the headjoint. I’m going to take it over to a local instrument repair shop this afternoon that works on band instruments (brass, woodwinds, etc) for the head repairman’s opinion. Welcome any suggestions.
I’ll be interested to see how it plays once I get it all cleaned up.
I might suggest using pipe cleaners with an appropriate cleaning liquid, but so few people smoke pipes and smoking stores being so rare, an alternate, but same idea, perhaps? That’s presuming any accumulated debris can be removed fairly easily. Fortunately the low D will have a slightly larger windway than high Ds and you’ll have options.
Thanks Peter. That’s quite an interesting approach/method to getting the job done. Would’ve never imagined it. I got some nice minature brushes and pipe cleaners from the repair guy (he’s been in the business for 34 years so I trust his judgement, even though he’d never heard of a low whistle until we met ) that seemed to do pretty well, along with some Cape Cod metal polish. But I’ll keep your ultrasound recommendation handy in case it’s needed.
As it happens, the repair guy gave me two different kinds of pipe cleaners - one with stiff bristles, the other soft. And yes, they both fit through the windway perfectly.
I don’t know, ultrasonic cleaning seemed an obvious solution to get into the small corners as shown in your picture. Certainly easier than going at it with brushes etc., considering the build up shown.
Mind you, it is a process I am familiar with. I lived with a clockmaker at some point in the distant past, she’d take apart antique clocks for restoration and first step would be to leave the parts in the ultrasound overnight to clear all dirt.
It’s pretty standard for this sort of job AFAIK. Some supermarkets (eg aldi) occasionally offer baths for jewelry cleaning.
