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YORK-aholic wrote:Will the paint stripper mess with any possible silver plate?

Nope.

I would suggest not doing anything to it - I think it is quite nice and not creepy at all. If you were looking for a regular gig playing horn, maybe you should not have bought this one.
On the other hand, I have seen things like this in museums and galleries, especially in New Orleans. The quality of the painting is very good and it is a unique piece of art. As a work of folk art it is probably quite valuable and you could sell it via a good understanding gallery for a whole lot more than you paid for it. Certainly enough to buy a similar unpainted horn.

Sometimes old horns are not for restoring!

David Richoux wrote: I have seen things like this in museums and galleries, especially in New Orleans. The quality of the painting is very good and it is a unique piece of art.

I very much agree and second the no stripping. Although the work of someone possessed (or on drugs) it is quite beautiful.

Paint it black.

Its really cool!!! Don't strip it! Its a one of a kind! Put it in your living room and display it..

bloke wrote:' would be dumb to destroy the art, when the art is worth more than the tuba, and the art-on-the-tuba is worth more than the art.

+100

I have to agree with the others. Keep it!

If it was just a bunch of colors gooped on, my opinion would be different. But this is the product of many hours work. Keeping it painted would preclude changing it to a four valve so I guess that would be up to you. I'd find some buttons for the valves and try to clean it up enough to give it a toot and see what happens. There is a squish in the tuning slide which might cause a problem but that could be fixed and then touched up because it is a solid color.

If you made it known in the right circles that it was available and were willing to wait for a buyer, the 'art-on-a-tuba' might return more to you than you paid for it.

Agreed- leave the artwork as is. Fix the valves and you'll have a truly unique tuba that (hopefully) plays well too!

schlepporello wrote:The only thing I see wrong with it is that all the art will be upside down when you pick the horn up to play it. I too would leave the art. If I did anything, I'd add a clear coat of lacquer to help preserve the artwork if it's possible to do so without it bleeding.

I would be guessing the paint is a mix of oils and acrylics, maybe even some latex house paints.

There is no one clear-coat that wouldn't react with some of the paint. Unless you are sure of the materials, leave it just as is.

Don't kill art! That ain't the end all tuba under that paint ! Leave it as is!

Why would you destroy a work of art as cool as that??

Is it for sale?

I think we've skunked you by letting on that some art museum would pay big bucks for it. That's not so likely, though, is it? Without at least some cooperation from the artist, because they'd want to have a very clear idea where it came from. I am not a curator, just guessing.

Love the spiders! I wish any of my tubas looked even remotely that cool. In case the first hundred people didn't get through to you, keep the art!

Donn wrote:I think we've skunked you by letting on that some art museum would pay big bucks for it. That's not so likely, though, is it? Without at least some cooperation from the artist, because they'd want to have a very clear idea where it came from. I am not a curator, just guessing.

I think there are many collectors (not museums) who would buy it without much provenience - the artist name and location might be enough (but more is always better.) There is a great deal of interest in "Folk" or "Self-Taught" art, especially in the southern states. http://www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ss ... about.html

Don't touch it!! It will become just another boring tuba.

YORK-aholic wrote:Okay, okay. I give.

In that case, I'll either sell it or trade it.

Sounds like plenty of folks here would be eager to buy it.

So many of us find this interesting, is there any info you could share about the owner; the who & why, or any thing that could add to the story?

Ditch it regardless, unless you like your octaves to be friggin tenths.