tailpiece cover

[Wayne Bagley]

just curious......
I have a brass tailpiece and cover. (not cast)

Do you guys polish it with anything?
Don't want it to lose it's shine prematurely.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I'd remove it & give it an 'first' good polish with a good quality metal polishing cream/liquid to give it a good shine.After that i'd buy one of the Silver polishing cloths that you can get & give it the occasional rub over with that to keep it tarnish free.The cloths are dry & have an impregnated polishing powder in them.They're very un-messy & easy to use,
Ivan

[Dave Hanson]

Brass oxidises quickly, so I can't see the point of continually polishing.

Dave H

[houseworker]

The brass may well be lacquered, in which case polishing is the worst thing to do. If it's not lacquered, you may want to lacquer it yourself - it's the only way to keep it shiny over a long period without endless polishing. Or just let the brass do its own thing and not worry, since well weathered brass tends to acquire a fantastic complex patina.

[MikeEdgerton]

There is a product available in most home stores (I got mine at Home Depot, Wal-mart also carries it) called NEVR-DULL. It's a can that contains a big wad of cotton like cloth. You pull off a small piece of the cotton and simply rub the offending piece of metal and it shines. Wipe off the almost miniscule amount of residue with a clean paper towel and your done. It's used for polishing everything from fine silver to cars and works on most metals. Their website is here. One can will probably last a lifetime. I used it for years when restoring vintage banjos and guitars. I use it on my mandolin TP cover.

[Wayne Bagley]

thanks everyone.

I like houseworker's thoughts about just letting the brass do its own thing and not worry, since well weathered brass tends to acquire a fantastic complex patina.

My concern is perhaps the cover would change faster than the other brass components and therefore stick out like a sore thumb. Perhaps I'll hold off and monitor it before putting any polish to it.

thanks again Wayne

[MikeEdgerton]

Can you post a picture?

[mandroid]

I epoxied on a piece of Ebony on my metal tailpiece.. works nicely..
some people can do Inlay on the ebony if you wish..

Frank Wakefield has a spare flowerpot on his, as I recall..