I don't find it too hot here, I like it. However, in the winter when it drops under 70F I put the heater on.
The bugs are big. Roaches the size of corvettes. They are mighty nutritious though, but it's difficult to rope and hog-tie them.
I've seen other horns get patina on them in South Florida, trumpets, etc. But the Couf seems to be the worst case. I suspect because there is a higher copper content in the Couf than in other horns.
Where the gold plating has worn off my Grassi, it's getting green. Constant polishing only slows it down. It's become my outdoor saxophone.
I've seen brass fittings on boats look even worse than my Couf.
I've seen nickel covered bathroom valves with little green dots coming through the nickel.
Many years ago, when scores of telegraph wires ran along the FEC Railroad tracks, being mostly copper they turned the same green color as my Couf saxophone.
For the youngsters, telegraph lines - not my picture.
Imagine them bright green and that's what they looked like in south Florida.
Look what happened to the copper coating on the Statue of Liberty
Looks good from a distance, but I suspect if you got close it would look a little like my Couf.
For years people have plated or put lacquer on brass to keep it from corroding. It seems to me that to have a bare brass sax is to ignore the wisdom of the ages. Of course that is only my opinion and YMMV.
My question is, why does anyone want to buy a bare brass horn anyway? I don't find them attractive myself, but of course once again, that's a matter of taste. But why unprotected and open to oxidation?
Does it help to call it Patina? Verdigris?
Most unprotected metals corrode. That's why they are painted, plated, or lacquered. My Couf didn't turn green overnight, I played it for a number of years before the green started happening quicker than the polishing could keep up with it. And once it takes hold, it goes surprisingly fast.
From Wiki:
A patina layer takes many years to develop under natural weathering. A copper roof will patinate faster than a copper facade, due to the longer dwell time of water on the surface. Buildings in coastal / marine locations will weather and develop a patina layer faster than ones in inland areas. For example, a new copper facade in central London will most likely not develop a "typical" green patina until after 50 years.
So if you buy a bare brass saxophone, be warned this might happen.
Then again, it might not.
But then with climate change,
green is
in
Notes ♫