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Thread: Ultrasonic Cleaning and Silver Plate Problems

  1. #1

    Ultrasonic Cleaning and Silver Plate Problems

    I had a recent experience getting my Besson 2052S Prestige ultrasonically cleaned and some silver plate was stripped off in the process. Has anyone else had this happen? The shop is going to have the horn sent to Anderson Silver Plating to have it re-plated, but is this a problem with bright silver plating in general, or specific to a period of horns produced by Besson, or something else?
    Thanks.
    Best Regards,
    Don Brown
    -------------------------
    Besson BE2052S Prestige, SM3X
    Adams E1 0.60 SS Bell, SM3X
    Hirsbrunner HBS 479 black nickel plated, SM3X
    Bach Stradivarius 42B0 F Attachment 'bone, SM4AL
    Yamaa YBL613 F/Gb Bass 'bone, DW HT1AL
    Besson 10-10 F Attachment 'bone (1968), SM4AL
    Conn 50H Director F Attachment Tenor 'bone (1970), SM4BS
    Blue pBone just for fun!
    Indian bugle
    Shofar

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
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    I have seen reports of this happening (not specifically on Bessons). It is usually attributed to some minor flaw in the surface preparation (e.g., a copper wash) applied prior to the silver going on. I believe that silver does not bond especially well directly to brass, and if there isn't a good enough copper layer, this sort of plating separation can occur. But I don't recall the details.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  3. Quote Originally Posted by ghmerrill View Post
    I believe that silver does not bond especially well directly to brass, and if there isn't a good enough copper layer, this sort of plating separation can occur.
    I have plating wear on my Sterling in a couple of areas which are not normally handled while playing. After some recent work, Lee Stofer educated me on how important the applied copper layer over the raw brass is for retention of the overlying silver plating. I found a cool item from a company named Medallion called "Liquid Silver." Spot electroplating was not doing the trick for me, but the Liquid Silver worked great, giving a matte silver color over the raw brass which is just enough to deaccentuate the "yellow" appearance of the brass for an overall nice look. Real easy, just wipe it on in layers and buff it out.
    Bob Tampa FL USA
    Euph -- 1984 B&H Round Stamp Sovereign 967 / 1978 Besson NS 767 / Early 90s Sterling MP: 4AL and GW Carbonaria
    Tuba -- 2014 Wisemann 900 CC / 2013 Mack 410 MP: Blokepiece Symphony American Shank and 33.2 #2 Rim

  4. #4
    Well, I finally got my Prestige 2502S euph back from being re-plated after three and a half months. Now a new wrinkle to the ongoing saga has emerged. Apparently some solder work is required to properly reinstall the tuning trigger on the horn. For fear of creating another problem with the newly silver plated instrument, they chose instead to re-attach the linkage a different way that caused the thumb lever to stick out at almost a 40 degee angle from the third valve tuning slide. Additionally, the lever will push all the way down and make metal-to-metal contact with the tube directly opposite the third valve tuning slide. If it proves to be problematic to correctly re-install the linkage, I would like to know about anyone's experience with an alternate linkage system for the Prestige 2502S or possibly with just removing the linkage altogether. Any ideas?
    Thanks.
    Best Regards,
    Don Brown
    -------------------------
    Besson BE2052S Prestige, SM3X
    Adams E1 0.60 SS Bell, SM3X
    Hirsbrunner HBS 479 black nickel plated, SM3X
    Bach Stradivarius 42B0 F Attachment 'bone, SM4AL
    Yamaa YBL613 F/Gb Bass 'bone, DW HT1AL
    Besson 10-10 F Attachment 'bone (1968), SM4AL
    Conn 50H Director F Attachment Tenor 'bone (1970), SM4BS
    Blue pBone just for fun!
    Indian bugle
    Shofar

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