Satin (brushed) brass finish

[Rick Denney]

I belive if you want a horn to look like the photo you posted of Dan Oberlon's work you want Satin Gold plate

JYS

Heh, heh. That sounds like the best idea I've heard so far.

Rick "bring your checkbook" Denney

[Dave Hayami]

Hello,
If Dave(Bandmaster) is reading this post, perhaps he will post a big picture of his Satin Gold Conn Sousaphone. Beautiful horn.
Dave "Saw it at TubaChristmas, DisneyLand"Hayami

[Liberty Mo]

I owned a Satin Silver King 2341 that was a real pain in the rear to keep clean. When it was clean, it looked great, but I would have rather spent all of that time practicing.

Silver tarnish is mysterious, maybe depends partly on environmental factors? I have a 1926 Evette saxophone with an excellent satin silver finish, and it has held up pretty well - in fact, since I've never tried to clean it, I'm wondering how you go about it? Just the same as a bright finish, or do you have to omit some of the rubbing to avoid polishing the finish off the tops of the bumps?

I invested in a few tubs of Wright's Silver Cream, a bag of cloth t-shirt rags, and a lot of elbow grease. I didn't rub all that hard, and the t-shirt and Wrights were not abrasive. I would also dampen the shirt before putting the Wrights on. The trick was not to use too much cream or it would cake on the horn. A light film would be left after I was done, and I just wiped it off using a damp shirt. It worked well, but this was once a month process.

I kept the horn in its case and away from any vents, moisture, fireplace, etc. It still built up tarnish. You just had to stay on top of it.

Interestingly enough, I purchased that horn on Ebay for a real steal. I think the fact that seller didnt take the time to polish it, really hurt his price. That was such a great playing tuba, but the cosmetic maintenance really detracted from it. I am in the market for a replacement....in lacquer.

Before and after:

[J.c. Sherman]

I've scratch-buffed a few trumpets and bugles. While sexy, it would be very labor intensive to do on a tuba, and I would flat-out turn the work away. Also, on a rare horn like a Marzan, I would be EXTREMELY reticent to mess with it in any manner not designed to add life to it. Really dude, having seen your very nice instrument, it has excellent character and I'd leave it alone. Remember, to some extent, tarnish protects.

One other thing, I'm also, as a matter of course, very reluctant to refinish any brass instrument which hasn't been completely de-dented and stripped. It's just my way. Were that the case, you could satin-finish it and lacquer it that way - Conn offers that finish on their 5X-J tubas. I don't like it, but you may.

If you have no lacquer, feel free to brasso it, but again - I like your Marzan

J.c.S.

[Tubaryan12]

Yes, the goal for this horn after having the dents removed and other corrective actions is to have it relacquered. I was just wondering how this type of finish is done. Personally, I was hoping for some non destructive method. Satin brass is just as appealing to me as the brushed look. I was going to test a small spot on the horn by polishing it and using a rattle can of clear satin lacquer on the spot. I would just remove the lacquer from the test spot after I saw the results unless I liked it so much I decided to to a larger piece (like the entire bell) as a temporary move, then have the entire horn done that way when the money and time is right.

[J.c. Sherman]

In that case there's a matte finish lacquer we use for touching up saxes with painted brush finishes (blech!). I'll see if I can get you the maker and # of that - we buy it from the hobby shop

J.c.

[Dan Schultz]

Wasn't Yamaha doing some sort of strange finish on their Xeno trumpets? Don't know if it was plating or a painted finish.

[pierso20]

Wasn't Yamaha doing some sort of strange finish on their Xeno trumpets? Don't know if it was plating or a painted finish.

What is the deal with a painted finish anyway? (What is it anyhow)...Is it just cheap? Does it affect sound? Bad..good? I really have no clue about finishes...besides the regular lacquer, silver and then some strange black or blue lacquers.

[Dan Schultz]

Wasn't Yamaha doing some sort of strange finish on their Xeno trumpets? Don't know if it was plating or a painted finish.

What is the deal with a painted finish anyway? (What is it anyhow)...Is it just cheap? Does it affect sound? Bad..good? I really have no clue about finishes...besides the regular lacquer, silver and then some strange black or blue lacquers.

From what I have seen and read... Yamaha wasn't too worried about applying a heavy coating to some of the XENO instruments as those horns are very heavy, double-braced, and intentionally made to play with a dark timbre. The real 'bugger' about some of the odd-ball finishes is that the horns can't be touched up after repair are made. Some of those XENO trumpets were shot blasted, plated, and then epoxy lacquered... I think.

[MileMarkerZero]

I know Conn offered the 5Xj line in satin brass for a while. Don't know if they still do. Due to his intimate knowledge of this line of horns, I would say that Matt Walters is the cat to talk to about what process Conn used and if it is practical for a one-off.

[Bandmaster]

Hello,
If Dave(Bandmaster) is reading this post, perhaps he will post a big picture of his Satin Gold Conn Sousaphone. Beautiful horn.
Dave "Saw it at TubaChristmas, DisneyLand"Hayami

Hi Dave, here it is (1927 Conn 38K):





Now you still have to polish a gold plated horn once in a while, because the silver under the gold will tarnish through the gold. Plus every little scratch in the gold surface allows the silver underneath to tarnish through even faster. Below you can see what 40 years of not polished did to it. That's what it looked like when I bid on it at eBay. I had no idea it was gold until I recieved the horn and polished it. Dan Oberloh told to use Wright's Silver mixed with baking soda and water to make a paste and apply with a plater's brush in a swirling pattern. Obviously it worked great. It didn't put any "shine" on the satin finish like over polishing or buffing can.

[Tubaryan12]

Last night I polished a small area with Brasso and sprayed it with Krylon satin finish clear paint. The results are as follows (sorry, no pics):

On the polished section of the horn, the finish did take on a satin look, but the gold color was very washed out.
On the unpolishised sectons, the finish was very gold and had the very satin gold look I wanted.

Now the questions:

How do you get a nice even gold patina on the horn, avoiding blotches, spit marks, red spots and anything else that would prevent an even finish? I'm going to try vinegar, but do any repair gurus have a better method?

Is there a durable, rattle can spray finish you can put on a horn (the krylon was easy to remove by just scratching with a finger nail).

[Dan Schultz]

Last night I polished a small area with Brasso and sprayed it with Krylon satin finish clear paint......
Is there a durable, rattle can spray finish you can put on a horn (the krylon was easy to remove by just scratching with a finger nail).

Brass does not like most spray finishes unless the brass is VERY clean. The adhesive qualities of Krylon are about as good as any or the other 'rattle cans' but you are going to have to really clean the brass with something like acetone, MEK, or another one of those cancer-causing chemicals.

[Tubaryan12]

The adhesive qualities of Krylon are about as good as any or the other 'rattle cans' but you are going to have to really clean the brass with something like acetone, MEK, or another one of those cancer-causing chemicals.

.....like Toluene, Xylene or Methylene Chloride? In my line of work, I have access to those above and more.