Polishing the Brass and Bronze bits on Essence

[CaseyVancouver]

Just wondering how to approach polishing, or at least clean up, the tailpiece on this Essence. It appears to be brass with a coating that is brushed metal, then maybe a clear coat. My usual Autosol polish was useless!

The bronze head script looks nice as is, but should they shine and be polished?

I tried some Autosol Polish on the gold plated tuners and stopped immediately as the gold is too thin for polish.

Thanks for your advice!

Casey

[StephenR]

Flitz polish works well on the brass parts. You should be able to find it locally but if not you can order from Alembic. I clear coated the tailpiece on my Series bass after cleaning the tarnish so I wouldn't have to keep removing tailpiece to clean it. Not sure about the best way to remove tarnish from gold plating.

I am pretty sure the logo is silver and if you polish it with a silver cloth it will shine up nicely.

You scored a great bass and it is nice to see it get some TLC!

[jacko]

The tailpiece on my rogue is in a similar state so I'm going to take it off the bass then clean it up with a plastic brush in my Dremel to get rid of all the old clearcoat and polish up the brass.  once it's shiny again I'll give it a couple of coats of clear that should keep it looking good for a few years (at least until the sweat works it's way under the clear. Might have to fill the screwholes with toothpicks before I refit it.

the logo is bronze and should clean up nicely. I use a wadding called Brasso - don't know if that's available in the US.

Graeme

[edwardofhuncote]

Welcome Casey... Congratulations & Compliments on your new-to-you Essence.

Some here have used Scotch-brite pads to get what's left of that clearcoat off the tailpiece, but any mild abrasive and some determination will do it. It's a hunk of solid brass, so just polish it with some Brasso. (we have it here in the U.S. and I assume Canada as well) To protect it, I've heard you can apply a coat of VO-5 hair treatment. (seriously) I'm a grumpy old upright player, so I just let mine tarnish like the plates on my upright do, then feel bad about it and clean them up again some rainy day. 

On polishing the logo and script, I've found that a small amount of Brasso on a Q-tip is the easiest means for getting at those smaller details. Just repeat the process several times and follow with a good buffing. You'll be surprised at how much brighter it gets.

Again, Welcome. Be sure and post us some pictures in the Essence Showcase thread after you've finished the spa treatment. 

[lbpesq]

+1 on Flitz, Dremel, and VO-5.  The Dremel & Flitz will shine that baby up in no time.  Be sure to use a soft brush or pad as it is easy to scar the brass.  Then a thin coat of VO-5 hand rubbed over the brass will keep it shiny longer.  As for applying a new clear coat, I've never tried that.  What type of clear coat do you all use?

Bil, tgo

[jacko]

I'll probably just get a rattle can from the local auto store although I do have half a litre of 2-pack clear left over from when I painted my MG. Maybe overkill digging out all the breathing apparatus just for a tailpiece 

Graeme

[StephenR]

I used canned clear coat for my tailpiece. Tried clear coating the brass plate for the electronics cavity but wasn't able to get an even coat on it so I stripped it back off. Since it is flat any new tarnish can be removed easily with Flitz.  I don't recommend taking the tailpiece on and off frequently. Eventually the screws are not going to hold properly if you do that. When I took my tailpiece off I found that one of the old brass screws had snapped in half. Replaced them with stainless steel screws but also had to dowel the holes and re-drill them since they screws wouldn't tighten properly at first. The toothpick trick works well, too.

[CaseyVancouver]

Thanks guys for your comments, appreciate the welcome too.

Spa treatment ...haha!

Found I could not live with the tarnish on the tailpiece. Had to go all in to fix it. One option is a new replacement. Or take it and get it gold plated. This could be bad. I know of people who have gotten parts back that were warped (and even lost!) by platers.

Started with the Autosol polish with 3M pad. Careful to scrub in direction of original grain. Hoped to just polish the top and keep the rest original. Just cleaning the worn section made it look two shades. Does not look good.

Time to remove the piece for a complete polish. Original finish came off quick. Sorry to see it go but it was simply worn out.
The sides were 50% tarnished almost black.

Cleaned the polished raw brass with a strong solvent (fuel injector cleaner). Put a spray can of auto clear coat in a couple of inches of hot water. This helps it flow nice. Three coats and it looks pretty much perfect. Will leave the piece to dry overnight. With the self tapping screws I can see repeated re/re of the tailpiece will tear up the wood.

Total time start to finish about 2.5 hours.
Not original anymore but looks sparkly.

As far as the bronze emblem goes, if you look at the top of this very page you will see what it should look like! With that goal I carefully went at it with the Autosol again. A moment later all done. Nice!

Looked at the bridge and just can't bring myself to disassemble the thing!
While the strings are off, a bit of polish brought the shine back to the top of the brass components. Not a complete job but really an improvement. Beautifully made piece.

The brass nut came up bright  in about 5 minutes. Anyone know if this is height adjustable?

The Alembic jewelry looks fresh again.

[adriaan]

The brass nut came up bright  in about 5 minutes. Anyone know if this is height adjustable?

It most certainly is. There should be three hex bolts, the middle one locks the nut (going up) and the two outer ones adjust the height (up or down). So turn the middle one clock-wise until you can feel the nut is no longer locked, adjust the height for the lower and/or higher strings to your liking, finally crank up the middle one again until it's snug-to-firm (no reason to overtighten).