Tag - lacquer damage

For almost a year now we've all been told to wash our hands more and use sanitiser at every opportunity. Of course these are good things to do, some of us even washed our hands in our regular pre-Covid lives! But what hand sanitiser and your instrument? Many manufacturers have highlighted concerns over the effects of various products on the finish and even base metals of their instruments.

Studies by Yamaha and Yanagisawa have found that although ethanol itself has virtually no effect, the various other ingredients can cause changes from discolouration of lacquer to the lacquer coming off and the changes to the base metal occurring. Chlorine products are particularly damaging. Although if you carry your own ethanol based sanitiser you've got a good chance of knowing what's in it, much of the time we have to use what's provided to us with no way of knowing the exact contents.

So, for those of us handling instruments on a regular basis hand washing, rather than sanitising, is the way forward. When sanitiser is the only option it's definitely worth giving your instrument a thorough wipe with a soft cloth to remove any traces after playing. This is the approach I'll be taking both in the shop and with my own gear.

Tom