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Finally located a bell for my Miraphone 186. It's on it's way to Texas from New England thanks to Tabor here on the forum.

Anyways, I've been working on cleaning up and repairing some things on the body of the horn.

It's a silver finished horn, but has spots that appear orangish on it. Is this just tarnish, or is it the silver being worn out and damaged.

Can it be cleaned up any? If so, what should I use?

I used a weak solution of Lime away and water to clean the inside of the horn and such. The valves got a vinegar bath and oiled before reassembly. Is there anything else I can do to get this gal back into tip top(playable, she may never be pretty with the gold bell) shape?

Thanks for any responses.

Here is what it looks like.

TubaTex91 wrote:It's a silver finished horn, but has spots that appear orangish on it.

Either you had some very strange lighting when you took this picture.......or this doesn't look like
any silver plating I've ever seen

Any better? The flash on my camera does weird things sometimes
If it's not silver plated, what is it?
Doesn't look raw brass, lacquered or gold plated to me.

I think it has had a hard life and now shows it.

Probably one of the only parts that look silver still is some small tubing and such on the valve body

I've heard that the silver horns are a bit more rare. Maybe I should put the effort into makin it pretty. Where in D/Fw would you recommend?

The horn is silver but the silver has been worn off in spots exposing raw brass. Those raw brass have developed an 'orange-ish' patina.

You can do a little buffing to brighten up the patina but stay away from the silver. Fifty more years and the horn will probably be ALL raw brass.

If you really want to go to the trouble... Caswell sells a plating kit that will allow you to apply a thin coating of silver. Don't expect dramatic results but at least the color will be more even.

Would I be better off trying to fix the silver plating or cleaning it up and leaving it as is?

I don't want to put way too much money into it and never be able to get any back when I upgrade.

The valves are in great condition and it plays decent. It's just ugly. What do you think it will be worth with a gold recording bell as is vs having it replated?

The bell I've bought was purchased mainly for the tenon ring. It was cheaper than purchasing a new one. I plan on playing it for awhile, let it make me some money, then send the tenon off to The Village Tinker to make a detachable upright bell.

I'll clean it up some and post pictures as soon as possible.

Thanks for all the replies and advice.

58mark wrote:As long as you are buying a bell, replace it with an upright bell. It will be worth a lot more and be a lot easier to find a buyer.....

Every Miraphone 186 that I've offered with BOTH recording and detachable upright bells have sold very quickly and descent prices.

There is a VERY good market for detachable upright bells but it seems that the tenon rings have all but 'washed out' of the common parts supplies and the only way to get one is to scrap a recording bell or buy a new collar set directly from Miraphone (expensive).

I appreciate that! I am going to clean it up first and see what it turns out like. After that, I'll get with you and see how that stuff works.

I put in some elbow greese and about 15 bucks and got this done today. I think I'm gonna leave it. I like the well used patina.

I just didn't like it looking like an orange fireball.

What can I do to keep it looking like this? Like a clear coat?

Here is another

One more

I couldn't find the never dull so I grabbed some tarnx and silver polish. There are a couple more places I have to check for never dull.

It at the least looks silver now which, in my opinion(which ain't worth much), is a huge improvement!

It looks better. That finish is probably satin-silver and was never intended to have a high shine. I think satin-silver is a pain to keep looking good... especially during the Winter heating months if you have gas heat in your house. Sulfur is a by-product of a gas flame as is the leading cause of silver tarnish. Keeping the horn in a case or gig bag will help. If the horn spends most of it's life standing out in the open... putting a trash bag over it will also help slow the tarnish process down.

The main reason I am insistent on keeping the detachable bell is that I have a decent case for the horn. It will be taken better care of now that it is in private hands. It use to belong to a high school and was in storage for awhile. I'm assuming because the bell was damaged. I have a detachable upright that is going to be available early next month thanks to another forum user. With both bells and the case, I think I'm
Going to be set. Especially since the horn was priced well enough that I didn't get put on the Ramen noodle diet.