Car wax for polishing the horn?

[Marc]

Hey, boyz…

Has anyone tried any of those car polish waxes on the market (like carnauba) for brightening the brass/silver parts?
I did a test on a Selmer metal MP and worked perfect. Just wondering if it would not attack the horn lacquer.

Cheers.

[Marc Justiniano]

I would not use any product that can scratch your lacquer. A saxophone repairman recommended to use furniture polish to clean and safely polish your sax. I’ve been using it for over a year and it cleans and polishes my saxophone. Just make sure to apply with a soft cotton sock or cloth and dry with the same. Make sure you don’t apply any of it on your key pads.

[wayne wojnarowski]

Why waste your time polishing it??? Let it get dull DULL IS IN …

[Marc]

Hahaha… nice one Wayne!
It’s just I’m still in the early stages when a shiny saxophone still excites me…
I’m sure that years from now, I will like a worn, dull, lacquer peeled horn.

Marc, it’s not much the horn itself, but the chrome keys and applicature what’s getting a foggy coat. Based on what I achieved polishing the Selmer silver MP, I assumed car wax would yield similar results on them.

[Anonymous]

my laquered sax is a couple years old, but i just wipe it clean with a damp cloth – just to get the ssliva stains off.

my guitar i like to polish it with table polish – each to his own

but my daughter never cleaned her clarinet – i got stung by a $450 repair bill to have it stripped down and new pads fitted – so cleaning is more important than polishing

[William Cingolani]

My sax tech man in St. Louis Mo. always used lemon pledge furniture polish on saxophones,trumpets etc. He recommended it to me so I’ve been using Lemon Pledge with the pink cloth

[wayne wojnarowski]

Hey guys on a serious note what does the lacquer do to the tone of the horn?? Over the past few yrs you HAVE seen brand new horns that are not lacquered . WHATS THAT ABOUT??

[Anonymous]

As most musicians know, various finishes can definitely have an impact on the sound of your saxophone. In fact, knowing the type of finish on the instrument you’re looking at purchasing is considered a crucial bit of information. Depending on the finish you’re able to know how bright or dark the tone will be without ever needing to play the saxophone.

Quite a popular option is a plated finish. Silver and gold are the two most common, and they vary greatly in tone. Silver has an extremely complex sound and has an absolutely stellar range. It offers more of a spread sound, having a darker sound when the sax is played more softly, and an enormously bright when played with more emphasis. The downside to silver though is that it is quite prone to tarnishing over time, so more care is generally involved. Often times a lacquer is added to silver to help maintain its appearance, but you’ll lose some of the character that silver is known for in doing so.

On the other hand, gold plating offers more of a big, full, dark sound, with more resonate free-blowing qualities. Not as spread as silver plated saxophones, the only real drawback is the lack of extended range known as Altissimo notes, as gold plated saxs are quite focused and limit the upper notes. To create a gold plated saxophone, first a coat of silver plating is placed over the brass instrument, and then gold is plated over the silver. Beautiful in look and sound, gold is a fantastic alternative to silver.

What about the different colors in lacquer though? Well, to get straight to the answer, differently colored lacquers makes no difference at all. Lacquer is a liquid material that dries into a hard outer shell on a saxophone, offering protection and reducing maintenance costs, but it unfortunately doesn’t change the tone. There is a difference however between a lacquered instrument and an un-lacquered one.

A raw brass saxophone has noticeably more projection and are quite free-blowing, earning them a reputation as more of a jazz horn. Once lacquer is applied though, the sound get more compact and centered, but it won’t play as loud. Aesthetically, instruments without lacquer will lose their polish more quickly, and potentially become discolored, but many musicians appreciate that “well-played” look, so it completely comes down to preference in appearance and sound.

The same applies to the neck of the saxophone as well. Different finishes produce different tones, and by experimenting with different necks, you’ll be able to get the exact sound you’re after.

[Patrick Reolon]

Just recently I asked at P.Mauriat for caretaking tipps for my unlaquered saxophone.

I have in mind they recommended me as an option to use car wax to seal the surface…
“…The unlacquered finish is supposed to appear aged and look similar to a vintage saxophone over time. If you want to try and retain it’s color I would suggest cleaning it with a damp cloth then applying liquid wax (car wax). There is no way to remove the brown marks other than to use a fine steel wool which will take off the existing unlacquer color as well…
A good resource for learning minor repairs (and a lot of good general saxophone information) is this forum: http://forum.saxontheweb.net/forumdisplay.php?54-Sax-Repair-Maintenance-and-Modification
”

But on a laquered saxophones it doesn’t make too much sense to me, that’s what the laquer is for, to protect and seal the metal. Just wipe it with a soft cloth. car wax would be an additional (unnecessary) layer on it…

Aditionally I’ve read pretty much on caretaking of unlaquered saxophones and indeed, a little bit of lemon juice mixed with water helps on removing green copper and cleaning unlaquered saxophones from saliva or water marks, giving them a shiny surface again if wanted, without really damaging the metal…

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