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Avoiding getting silver on the internals of a trumpet while plating

May 31, 2009

I've been working with a plater that silver plates trumpets. He says that he doesn't like to plug the holes of the trumpets because the horns tend to float if air is left in them. I do not want to have plating on the inside of the horn because I think it affects how the horn plays.

He also does not want to risk polluting his solution by filling the horn with water or some other fluid.

I'm suggesting that he plug up all ports of the horn when it is full of plating solution before the plating begins. My question is this: If the horn is under the solution and the openings are plugged up, how much if any of the plating will end up on the inside of the horn from the solution trapped inside?

Gregg Peele
Buyer - Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

I don't think filling the horn with deionized (or better yet, distilled) water, then plugging it off, is going to hurt his tanks. You might get a little "spit" in there...Plugging the holes will work, if enough weight is attached

George Brackett III
- Maine
June 9, 2009

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I am playing my silver plated trumpet at church tonight. When I was a coop student at Georgia Tech, I plated my own horn in the plating shop I worked in. The horn did not float when I tied an inert weight to hold it down.

Robert H Probert
Robert H Probert Technical Services

Garner, North Carolina

June 10, 2009

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