I am always getting emails about cleaning musical instruments, recently I got this one, I had told him I would check with the experts since I am not that experienced cleaning musical instruments. This is his response to my assistance and the information I gave him:
Rex:
Thank you it is s must needed product for tuba and euphonium artist.
Unless you are fortunate enough to own more than one instrument you must usually be without the instrument until the cleaning is completed by the repair shop, and of course the many bends and tight tollerances that can not be reached with a brush or cloth.
From me:
I had to investigate this question for you so that I could make sure I was getting you the best expert advice on the cleaning of your tuba.
It seems that Hagerty’s recommends and says the most popular cleaning method for your tuba would be Hagerty Silversmith Spray. You spray it on and it forms a powder that you then polish off. There is also a silversmith silver dip that can be applied with a q-tip for the tight creaves and rinsed with water on a q-tip as well, if you fear getting water into any certain area. That is for the very tight places. I sell both of these. Apparently, many of the shops that do cleaning of musical instruments use these products as well. I hope this has been helpful.
Note:
Please if any musicians have additional information for this young man, please pass it along and share with others. Thank you.
January 19th, 2010
Quite often I get emails from folks that have accidentally discolored their turquoise or other semi-precious stones. I thought I would post my last correspondence in hopes this information will be helpful to others.
Here is the original email, with his permission and he told me to leave the “I’m an idiot” part in so I did as he requested.
From Seth:
I’m an idiot – attempted to polish turquoise jewelry (heirloom) with a buffing compound, and have discolored the stone – is there any hope to restore it? Seth
My response:
Dear Seth,
I am afraid that turquoise is very porous and most likely is ruined. You might contact a jeweler that cuts and polishes stones to see if they can remove it and remove the surface to see if it just damaged the top surface, but I can tell you right now, they are not easy to find and of course the stones are delicate. The bench jeweler is on it’s way out, there are too many just retail stores out there that are not able to do any repairs, but you can call around.
I can possibly see about having a new stone put in it for you, but turquoise isn’t cheap and depending on the size of the stone it could be anywhere from $25.00 to $100.00. I don’t have anyone here that can polish the stone either, wish I did. If you would like for me to see about having it repaired for you, please let me know. I can’t give you a firm quote, I just send things to them, they repair them, if they can, and tell me how much. We don’t usually do repairs other than on our own jewelry, but sometimes the silversmiths will help me out.
Seth:
You are so gracious – thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I may very well come back pleading to take you up on your offer.
Thank you again! Seth
My response:
Good luck Seth, and don’t feel so bad, guess what, it happens to a lot of people. I even messed my white turquoise up one time, not thinking when I put some body lotion on. It turned it a greenish color and white turquoise is suppose to be white. 
It is a rare stone and I was quite upset with myself, so I know where you are coming from. This is one reason I try to stress that people use the Haggerty silversmith Wash , I know it doesn’t discolor the stones if used properly. It is a very common mistake. I know before I got into the jewelry business I use to think, well it’s a rock, what could it do to it. Well, I discovered rocks can be very porous and absorb everything. Funny thing is everyone wants natural turquoise in there Indian made jewelry, but treated turquoise won’t discolor, that is why we use them in our beaded jewelry. What you don’t want is enhanced which means they have been dyed, but treated to close the pores isn’t a bad thing, but it is too hard to try and explain the difference and people just don’t understand, so we sell natural turquoise, that will darken with age or when coming in contact with oils, even body oil.
Good luck hon, appreciate your looking to me for answers. Do you mind if I post your question on my blog. I won’t put your name or email? Others write me often about this kind of thing and I think I will make my answer public so it might help others, if you don’t mind.
Seth’s response:
Thank you again, and Yes Ma’am, by all means post whatever you feel is beneficial – please be sure to leave in the “help, I’m an idiot” part – that will help let the folks who want to act like they weren’t stupid to try something that (while in their gut they knew was a mistake – before they even started), know they are not alone. J
Please also post this if you don’t mind as well:
“It is wonderful to note, that although I am not, nor have been up until this point a Customer of Southwest Affinity, I know from how graciously Ms. Jones has responded, and willingly assisted with my questions that when the time comes for me to purchase further Jewelry – I won’t hesitate to contact Southwest, nor to recommend them at every opportunity. If they take such care for the concerns of non-patrons – how much more would they do for their own Customers?”
All the best to you and yours,
Seth
January 16th, 2010
We ship via the U.S. Mail, insured, six days a week. We have several shipping options. For continental U.S. we offer free shipping, first class, for orders over $200.00.
For continental U.S. we offer the following: First Class Mail for $5.50, Priority Mail for $8.50 and U.S. Express mail for $25.00
For International shipping we offer Express, insured, mail only for $35.00 or more depending on location.
Free shipping:
You will find free shipping mentioned through out our web site. We use to offer this to all customers, but with the rising cost in shipping we have had to change this and do not offer free shipping for orders under $200.00. We are sorry. If you qualify for free shipping, please do not select priority mail or the free option will not be applied.
We usually ship in 3-10 business days depending on the availability of the items ordered. When items ship, and email will be sent with shipping information to the email address you provided on the order.
December 30th, 2009
Hi, we are currently closed for the holidays until January 4, 2010. We are also in the process of making changes to our 2010 line. Orders are still being taken, emails are being answered periodically, but we will not resume shipping until the 4th. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
December 30th, 2009
Owner, Beverley Jones
For 12 years Southwest Affinity and owner, Beverley Jones, have been trading and working directly with Native American Indian craftspeople from numerous Nations to try and bring you unique and affordable, authentic American Indian jewelry and artifacts. We love what we do and the products that our artisans create by hand especially for our customers. We enjoying providing you with great handcrafted jewelry and artifacts and make every effort to meet your needs and special requests making Southwest Affinity a company you are pleased to do business with. Here we hope to provide information that maybe helpful to our customers and friends.
December 29th, 2009
Hi, we receive lots of emails with questions regarding the cleaning of sterling silver, hallmarks, etc. Things that seem to be on the minds of many, so to address these and keep our customers abreast of what is going on here, we will be posting questions and answers, news and updates here in the blog in hopes that these will be useful to all of our customers and friends.
December 29th, 2009
