How to clean "silver" guitar hardware?

[nickyboy]

Folks I've owned my beautiful L5 from new in 2013.

This is the second time I've cleaned the tarnishing on the silver part of the tailpiece.. so no big deal but is there a way I can prevent the tarnishing?

Any wax or something?

[wintermoon]

Wax will work until it wears off, you can lacquer it if you want for a more permanent solution.

[Danny W.]

Best solution is to clean the tarnish off when you feel the need.

Danny W.

[sgosnell]

Clear lacquer works, but it's not permanent, it wears and chips and starts to look a little ragged over time. Wright's Silver Polish works pretty well, but the shine doesn't last nearly as long as lacquer. So you pays your money and takes your choice - Do it often in a short time, or do it every few years and put in a lot more work.

[wintermoon]

Uh yeah, well not much in life is permanent except maybe taxes and death.
Lacquer has the advantage of lasting quite a while, silver polish, etc will only clean it temporarily and it will tarnish again w out even contacting it, it'll tarnish/oxidize on it's own. Clean it enough times and you'll wear the silver plating off eventually and you won't be able to polish it, but ymmv.

[sgosnell]

You're right, and I prefer lacquer. But there are other choices.

[wintermoon]

Using lacquer will last a long time and unless your arm/sleeve is constantly brushing against it will be just fine. Depending on your playing style/sweat content most tp wear is evident on the crossbar.
If the lacquer gets wonky down the line it's easy enough to remove the medallion/insert (provided they still use nuts to attach them) clean w lacquer thinner, and relacquer.
Easy peasy but doubt you'd ever need to do it twice.

[Jabberwocky]

I bought an L5 tailpiece off an old lady on ebay. Well, I am quite sure it is a genuine L5 tailpiece; somewhere along the course of its life, the owner had it heavily nickel-plated, medallion and all. The L5 engravings were barely visible. So, that is one solution...

I have been meaning to replace the Epiphone Broadway Elitist Frequensator tailpiece with it. Never got around to it.