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Ok, today I started prepping some joints for soldering my horn back together:



After seeing what a nice color those spots became it got me thinking about the finish on this ol' horn. The silver is very worn in spots, gone in others. The front of the bell especially is very messy looking. I thought that if I got this thing down to raw brass, I might be able to end up with a nicer looking tuba at the end of all this. Here are my pro's and con's, followed by some questions. Your opinions (pro or con), suggestions, criticism, etc. are most anxiously anticipated.

Pros:
- Uniform finish
- Perhaps cover/hide some of the finish flaws
- It would help get rid of those pesky green spots
- Could end up with a "pretty" horn

Cons:
- Difficulty? Time/energy consumption?
- I could really mung it up!
- Take away the "authenticity" of it (it is from 1912...)
- Not ending up as "pretty" as I have it in my head right now
- I would have to do it now, while it's in pieces (for the sake of ease), delaying my playing of the horn

Questions:
- How does one remove silver plate? Buffer? Chemicals?
- How would I protect the finish of the raw brass afterwards?
- Am I crazy for trying this?

My humble thanks...

KiltieTuba wrote:Aren't you already messing with the "authenticity" by replacing the receiver/leadpipe?

Excellent point sir. Thank you. And the new leadpipe/receiver won't be silver anyway.

If I take the silver off while they're all in pieces, would it be better to spray the raw brass while in pieces as well? Would that get in the way of soldering it back together? Or should I spray it when it's all assembled?

I would suggest chemically removing the silver plating if you want it down to brass. Mechanical removal (buffing) is labor-intensive and cause damage to you and the instrument if you don't know what you are doing. There are websites that will give you the recipe for mixing your own stripping chemicals, but fair warning, this is some toxic stuff. You really need to consider personal protection (respiratory and skin contact among the issues) before doing this at home.

There may be businesses in your area that can do this - depending on the size of the community in which you live.

Daryl

It would be absolutely best to lacquer/spray after assembly because the heat from your torch will burn the lacquer. Also, the flux will turn brass a reddish color where it heats up and have to be cleaned(buffed). Soldering is difficult to do well without practice. Be sure to take gravity into account and ensure the joints fit as closely as possible before soldering. The fitting can be the most tedious part but is important so you can have the tightest joint as possible without leaks and minimal solder use. Good luck! I'm enjoying following your project!

Not sure the present photos illustrate the issues that you're thinking about - front of bell, "cover/hide finish flaws", etc. But, anyway ... I might leave the silver alone. Can you polish the rest of the instrument so it's as shiny as the joints you've cleaned up? Not with sandpaper, of course, but an ordinary silver polish with a mild abrasive? Get a look at what you have, before you decide whether it's worth keeping.

For me, raw brass is bound to look bad, on an instrument that's actively used. Pretty soon it will get spot corrosion, from drops of water or something, and to do anything about it, you have to polish the whole thing back to bright if you want an even finish. It isn't a huge problem, but not something I would work hard or spend money for.

You're right Donn, the photo doesn't show everything I'm talking about. The photo simply shows the bright brass underneath as I was prepping for soldering joints and braces. That's what got me thinking about taking the silver off. You can see how ugly the silver is though. It's been cleaned several times, though not polished yet. The darker areas are where the silver is gone down to the bare brass.

The silver is pretty worn, spotty, and ugly over most of the horn. There are some very nice spots too, just not where anyone sees them. The back of the bell is in pretty decent shape, plating-wise, but the front is a mess with some silver stripped by whatever grime sat on it for who knows how long. There's a big ugly spot where someone globbed solder on to fix that leadpipe (to no avail).

I'm leaning towards bare brass at this point, using TubaTinker's car wax method to protect the bare brass. My wife is out of town next week, so I'll be doing some experimenting to see what I can do with it without having my little girls around to be exposed to my messes.