Anti-corrosive
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I may try it on one of my cheap melodicas, the spray probably applied with a cloth. I don’t think it would do any harm. My question is whether an application would have a lasting effect. If it had to be applied frequently, it would be too much trouble (for me). I have two Suzuki Study-32s, one I’ve hardly played at all, one that has been played a lot and has reed corrosion. I think I’ll order some spray and experiment with them. I think there are petroleum based and non-petroleum based anti-corrosives, so I’ll have to look into that.
I’m looking at metal treatments. It appears that some anti-corrosive treatments simply coat the surface with something that repels moisture, as a thin coat of oil would. Other treatments have a chemical reaction with the metal that results in a hardened protective surface. I have been stripping and reseasoning cast iron pans lately. The chemical process that produces the hardened non-stick surface is polymerization. The seasoning process involves applying a series of very thin coats of oil (flax seed oil is what I use) at each stage and heating the pan to 500 degrees F for an hour. I don’t think this could be done with reeds, so what’s needed is another kind of chemical reaction that doesn’t require heat. There are products that produce such reactions. It may be that when Yamaha claims that their reeds are anti-corrosive, it’s because some such treatment has been applied. There are also treatments that transform rust into a hard coating, and sometimes this is done with cast iron pans in restoring old pans. Some refer to it as turning red rust into black rust. High heat is involved, but there are also products that do this without heat. The possible use with reeds would be to stop the corrosion process and produce a protective layer.
I wonder if a hardened protective surface would affect the flexibility of the reed? Would be interesting to hear how it affects the tone…
let me raise my concerns as a natural worrier Alan.
Do you want to be breathing that anti-corrosive?I’m wondering if a coating will make a reed go flat? Adding more material(mass)?
Can’t be any worse than defoliants. Well, I have thought about that. I can blame Agent Orange if there’s a problem. I think breathing in the spray is one thing; emanations from the resulting hardened surface are another. Not sure what to say on this. Since the coating would add some mass for the whole length of the reed, I’m not too worried about that. But the reeds can always be tuned. I’m not going to experiment on one of my good melodicas, however.
Update: I had the good fortune to run into a metalurgist today and asked him about A chemical process that is analogous to polymerization but does not require heat. He said the process is anodizing. He told me that it would not involve a health risk for playing the melodica. It might change the sound from the reeds and the intonation, he agreed. He has some familiarity with free reed instruments. It looks like the product I have ordered, Hi-Gear SMT2514s SMT2 Synthetic Metal Treatment, will produce this effect. We’ll see. I’ll report on the results.
Hi Alan, I have anodized aluminum and as far as I know no other metals can be anodized. The last time I did this was about 3 years ago with a model I made. The pieces that were not aluminum could not be anodized at that time. I know that the pieces that fit with in another piece did require that I remove the Ano so they can slip in. These pieces were approx. 1″ x 1/4″ by 3″ and fit an exact size slot. So mass was added enought that it had to be removed. I would assume that it would definately alter the composition of the metal enough to de-tune it. A few years back they came out with a product called liquid glass that is basically pure s
ilicon which was considered to be a nano coating 500 times thinner than human hair, maybe this is something that would work better for you. I could not tell you with 100% accurantcy because I only play a scientist on T.V. And I am not one in real life. 🙂
Melodica-MeVery helpful info, Melodica-Me. Thanks. I’ll see what is said on the can or accompanying instructions when I get the product I ordered. “Anodizing” may be strictly applicable only to aluminum, though there are analogous processes for other metals. I see that Liquid Glass is available on Amazon, and it looks like something I could use on my motorcycles. I have a Schoenhut 25 I got on sale for $15 for experimentation. I’ll experiment on a few of its reeds first.
Hi everyone! Sometimes, after tuning my melodicas, I spray this product on the reeds hoping to prevent oxidation and to protect against corrosive and oxidizing agents. I actually don’t know if it really works, but I believe it..
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