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I was wondering how lacquer on a satin silver finish tuba would look. would it work? and keep it from tarnishing?

I haven't seen this done in real life. The closest would be the clear Conn Tarnish Shield on their nickel silver 8D horns as opposed to the Conn Lustre lacquer on their brass instruments, which I think had pigment added to it.

At Dillon Music a couple years ago they had a Conn helicon with lacquer over silver plate..it looked like the lacquer was peeling off though so i dont know what to tell you..seems like it should work though..maybe some experts on here could leave some helpful input.

Gary Swart wrote:How about some latex paint? That should stop the tarnish and you would have a wide choice of colors.

Yeah! Right!

Now yer jes' bein' smart....

I've often wondered about painting a horn instead of lacquer. I'm thinking of something really tough like Imron. Toxic as all getout but tough. I know the hot car guys do something called 'basecoat/clearcoat' where the color is put on evenly and then numerous cleat coats are put ontop and wet sanded to get perfect. What would a horn sound like with ten or fifteen coats of paint on it?

If the OP is thinking about lacquering over the silver on his 'new' 20J, I'd think twice. After spending all that money getting it looking good again, it would be awful to lacquer it and then have it start to peel. Silver polish and lots of rags are just part of the fun.

Jeff "Ya gotta wear a moonsuit with that stuff" Benedict

well thanks for your input

Why not! I think Yamaha is doing something like that on their newer line of Xenon (?) trumpets. I know it's one heck of a lot of trouble to try to match if you ever have to fix one. I think there is only one guy in the country who has managed to duplicate the finish. If I remember correct, Yamaha is calling that type of finish 'silver frost' (or something like that).

The Big Ben wrote:Now yer jes' bein' smart.... I've often wondered about painting a horn instead of lacquer. I'm thinking of something really tough like Imron. ..... Jeff "Ya gotta wear a moonsuit with that stuff" Benedict

It might surprise all of us to know just how close some of the new horn finishes are to the automotive products... especially the horn finishes advertised as 'epoxy lacquer'.... which aren't lacquers at all. An automotive clear-coat will work well on a musical instrument.

so do you think I could put an automotive clear coat on my silver 20J? just wondering..or any kind of lacquer. I would like the finish to stay looking this good all the time.

A trumpet player that works in the finishing dept at Kanstul has a Flugal that is made from red brass that has a satin finish with a clear coat on it, it looks very nice, and unique. There is no technical reason that you can't clear over satin silver.

but you might be able to wrap your horn in Saran Wrap to see what effect the lacquer will have on the sound. Usually silver has a bit more resonance and focus (depending on the player to an extent) since the silver is part of the metal, whereas lacquer covers the metal and you may wind up killing the voice of the tuba. It may be harder to undo than to do.

Just my devil's advocate (and Murphy's Law) shining through.

Roger