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I was wondering if it's possible to strip a tuba of it's silver finish and refinish it with a lacquer finish. I'm sick of polishing my tuba only to have it tarnish again in 2-3 weeks. Lacquer seems much easier to take care of. Has anyone had this done before? What kind of cost am I looking at?

Have you tried putting those tarnish strips in your case? Is it a leather bag? Do you keep your tuba near a fireplace?

Just seems like there might be less extreme measures to help you out here. Silver tubas *do* require a little upkeep if you want it to stay shiny. But I really never had trouble with my silver tuba. Maybe I was lucky?

Just stop polishing it, SHEESH!

Anderson Silver Plating in Elkhart will strip the silver off of an instrument. I've had several tuba bells done there. That said, I don't recommend that you do it. It is a reverse electro-plate process which seems to have left some problems with the brass. My bells were pretty old which may have contributed to the results. I suggest that you give the horn a good polish with Haggerty's(sp?) which has a protectant in it that keeps the tarnish from coming back so soon.

Sam Gnagey wrote:I suggest that you give the horn a good polish with Haggerty's(sp?) which has a protectant in it that keeps the tarnish from coming back so soon.

That's the silver polish I have been using on it. My horn sits next to a window that faces west when I'm not practicing and gets a lot of sun in the afternoon. Maybe that has something to do with the tarnishing??? I'm not too serious about doing this to my horn, just wanted to know if the possibility existed. Thanks for all the input so far.

phoenix wrote:

Sam Gnagey wrote:I suggest that you give the horn a good polish with Haggerty's(sp?) which has a protectant in it that keeps the tarnish from coming back so soon.

That's the silver polish I have been using on it. My horn sits next to a window that faces west when I'm not practicing and gets a lot of sun in the afternoon. Maybe that has something to do with the tarnishing??? I'm not too serious about doing this to my horn, just wanted to know if the possibility existed. Thanks for all the input so far.

One of my horns is silver plated and I've had it since 1981 and I've polished it maybe 4 times and it looks good for years after being polished. The key has been if it's not being played it is in it's hard case or Alteri gig bag with a couple of 3M tarnish strips. It looks like it is brand new for years after a clean and polish. The sulphur from natural gas heating furnaces is tough on silver finishes and I have natural gas heat and by just keeping the horn in the case I've only polished it about once every 7 years over the last 30 years.

This pops up every now and again.

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT STRIPPING THE SILVER. It is very expensive to properly remove it, re-polish and spray your horn. I would take the advice of the folks suggesting that you use tarnish strips and a protective polish like Tarnishield made by 3M.

Also, after every time you handle your horn, keep a cloth diaper in your case to wipe off all of the finger prints where you have handled the instrument.

Don't store your horn in open air. Store it in a case with the tarnish strips and keep it away from food and smoke.

When I got my tuba it was black with tarnish. I used a full bottle of 3M Tarnishield and took the horn into the shower. It came out shining like new. I've done that one more time in 20 years. I wipe it down after every handling. This works for me.

I owned a new King 2341 in satin silver, and it required much more cleaning and careful handling than any of the "non-satin" silver horns I've owned. The pitting required to give it the satin finish seemed to be much more conducive to tarnish than the smooth finish on a silverplated horn. Although the horn was gorgeous to look at, it was a real pain in my *** to the point I'd never own another.

By chance is the OP's horn satin?

My horn was only 3 years old when I acquired it from the original buyer (who admittedly didn't attempt to maintain its finish). In 3 years, it accumulated tarnish to this degree, and after several hours of elbow grease, it cleaned up real nice.