What is Verdigris? And Why Do We Care?

As summer approaches and we start to look at getting instruments serviced for the upcoming year, one important aspect to look at is how much green do you see on your instruments? This green is called verdigris. It's when oxygen, spit, and other debris combine on the surface of the metal and react over time.

You will see it on woodwind keys and bodies in the "in between" spaces or right on top of the touch piece. You'll also see it on the inside of trumpet valve casings, trombone hand slides, and in the bottom crest of the saxophone bow. If you have ever cleaned a brass instrument, cleaning this stuff out causes the cleaning solution to turn grey, brown, black, and sometimes orange!

Why do we care? Well, it depends on the instrument. Rotors have very little tolerances, so if there's too much build up the rotor won't work smoothly. Low brass pistons, on the other hand, sometimes have a little wiggle room depending on the oil/player combination. There's a lot of variability and it's hard to predict sometimes.

The problem with this is that letting the verdigris build up over time can and will impede the function of your instrument. If you're a woodwind player, that verdigris is causing permanent damage to the plating as well as adding mass to the keys, possibly getting in the way, weakening the solder points, and being generally unpleasant to touch. If you're a brass player, it's slowing down your pistons, rotors, and tuning slides as well as possibly affecting your lacquer.

The yearly cleaning and summer maintenance service of your instruments is so important to reset them back to base level. Yearly servicing--cleaning, drying out, oiling, emptying and repairing cases for the next year--are all essential to the consistent function of those instruments.

Your Palen repair shop can get everything back in great playing shape, guaranteed.

Ryan is a Columbia/Boonville native and graduated in 2020 from Western Iowa Tech Community College with an Associate's Degree of Applied Science in Band Instrument Repair. While in school, he worked at Midbell Music in Sioux City, IA and Thompson Music in Omaha, NE. Ryan has been an active musician in the area since 2009 at the University of Missouri School of Music, Columbia Handbell Ensemble, and various other groups and venues. Ryan enjoys hanging out with his wife, cooking, and being in nature.