Saxophone Forum


by rachel92491
(28 posts)
18 years ago

greenish blue spots

when we first purchased my bun

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  1. by vipegrad
    (47 posts)

    18 years ago

    Re: greenish blue spots

    Saxophones are made of brass, and brass is made of copper (among other metals). Copper in the brass oxidizes causing the green spots. This is like rust on steel. You cannot simply clean it off. To remove this you need to have it chemicaly cleaned, or put in an ultrasonic cleaner which shakes all the corosion off leaving you with shiny brass again. Do not try this yourself, and consult your trusted tech before having them do it. Some older horns cannot handle the cleaning processes and will lose laquer as a result. If you play on a bundy, it is not really worth having the corosion cleaned, unless it is close to your heart. The corosion is a visual issue mostly, but after many years will cause pitting and eventually a hole in the horn, but that takes a few years, unless you frequently play in the ocean or some other large body of salt water. Hope this helped.

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    1. by Tbone
      (120 posts)

      18 years ago

      Re: greenish blue spots

      "A little learning can be a dangerous thing"! Those green spots are oxidation. (verdigris) If left alone this oxidation will eventually cover the entire unprotected surfaces of the brass. It develops into a patina that actually protects the brass below it. It will not "rot" a hole through as our misinformed friend above suggests. It can be removed with most any brass polish and a little elbow grease. (Brasso, Noxon, Wenol, etc.) Now if you were to have reddish/brownish crusty spots, that's another story. Red rot, de-zincification will eat away your horn.

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      1. by vipegrad
        (47 posts)

        18 years ago

        Re: greenish blue spots

        I appologise for the misinformation. I was given this by my local tech, and the chemist in me never bothered to think it through thoroughly. After doing some research I have found some more information. From what I can tell, I believe my tech may have been thinking of de-zincification in which the zinc is removed leaving a spongy material that can easily be broken through. My appologies, I did not in any way mean to misinform, and will try to do more research before posting in the future.

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