As any Tangley owner knows, it's one horrendous job to polish the
whistles to get a nice mirror finish that will last. Ours was due for
this job; the task we performed several years ago had turned pretty
muddy.
Dave Miner told me to expect to pay $1,000 to have this done.
We found a musical instrument repair man near Wilkes Barre, PA, who did
a beautiful job for $550. They really shine like a 10 to the 6th bucks!
He said where most folks get in trouble is that they don't recognize
that after buffing, degreasing is in order. The buffing compound sticks
are held together by a wax of some sort which in time turns black, so
you have to get rid of it.
He uses a vapor degreaser for this, an item most mechanical music
freaks are unlikely to have. And he uses some sort of very expensive
lacquer for the final finish.
The only catch is that I had to spend time digging out the wax at the
ring-shaped whistle opening, whose technical name I forget.
I'll be glad to pass along this man's name and number to anyone
interested.
Harvey Roehl
|