Dumb Questions
I have recently become interested in playing again after a 20 year break. 20 years ago, I inherited a 1946 balanced action alto and a 1955 MK VI tenor, along with a bunch of different mouthpieces.
First question: In the interest of hygiene, I boiled 6 rubber Selmer mouthpieces. They turned a lovely shade of rust brown. Did I ruin them? They do not appear to be distorted in any way, they are just nasty looking.
Second question: My tenor has been sitting in its case for those 20 years without being played (I favor the alto.) When I took it out of the case, it seemed a little grungy, so I wiped the neck with a paper towel. I got some crud off of the neck that was green. I guess it was tarnish. Anyway, what can I use, if anything, to get the crud off of the rest of the horn that will not hurt the pads? Speaking of the pads, they are in remarkably good condition, but it looks like who ever took the old ones off, used some sort of heat source, as the (cups? what do you call what the pads are attached to?) are scorched. I was able to rub some of the scorched stuff off, but I did not go crazy with the cleaning because I did not want to hurt the finish anymore than it is. I have a large supply of cloth diapers that I think will work well for cleaning.
Thank you for any help!
Marc
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