Incidentally, there’s a bit more to cleaning woodwind instruments than just whacking some Brasso on and hoping for the best. Most instrument keys are plated with either silver or nickel, and if you polish them too ferociously or with the wrong product it is possible to wear through the plate entirely, leaving you much worse off than when you started. Silver-plated keys, for instance, are best treated with a jeweller’s ‘silver polishing cloth’, which will gently remove tarnish, or with ‘Silvo’ (the silver equivalent of ‘Brasso’). Even then, if in doubt it’s maybe best to just leave the tarnish on and call it ‘patina’ if anyone asks.
My metal clarinet, however, is (as far as I can tell) made of an alloy called ‘nickel silver’, or ‘German silver’, which with 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc doesn’t actually contain any silver at all. This was a popular material for woodwind instruments back in the early 20th century when my clari was made, and because it’s unplated I can polish it as much as I want without fear of damage! The only thing is it won’t stay super shiny for very long, as it will soon dull again and eventually develop a brand new layer of yellowy-green tarnish. And thus the cycle begins again, but that doesn’t stop us enjoying the shininess while it lasts!
