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I'm looking for some practical tips with respect to re-lacquering a brass instrument .... a 55 yr old old Tuba.

I am painstakingly polishing the tarnished raw brass areas with toothbrushes & "Brasso" polishing liquid. This is a ton of work, but the brass is looking shiny again. I have a ways to go, but thought I'd ask these 3 questions:

1) what tips or techniques did you use to strip off the areas that had the "old" (original) lacquer ?

2) what tips or techniques did you use to polish up that raw tarnished brass ?

3) once you got it polished to a high shine ... what product did you use to spray the polished brass ? A spray can of lacquer ... what brand or kind ?

The closest I've come is lacquering a new raw brass thumb ring. This taught me that relacquering a tuba is probably not really a DIY job unless you treat it as a learning experience and don't have inflated expectations. Everyone who figures out how to do something starts somewhere.

One suggestion offhand is to get rid of the Brasso, which is pretty harsh stuff, and get some buffing compound and cotton rags, and (for the small tubing) oil lamp wicking.

You can find a lot of interesting stuff at Votaw Tools, one of the companies in the instrument repair supply world that doesn't require you to be an ordained priest in the super-double-secret order of repair techs before they want you as a customer.

KiltieTuba wrote:This is assuming you have zero dents or scratches on the instrument.

I'd be surprised if that would make any difference. You'll have the same dents and scratches afterwards, but with more lacquer. Sometimes the dents and scratches catch the light, for a scintillating look if you like that kind of thing.

For me, it would be more interesting to hear about how to move an unlacquered tuba down the road to that deep coppery tan that they may get on their own after a century or so. Looks better and probably lasts better than lacquer from a can, doesn't highlight damage, but who has a century to wait?

It doesn't take a century. Just polish it up and leave it untouched in open air for a year. Hang it over your fireplace if you have one.

The other thing I'm considering ... get the instrument all polished & buffed up ... then take it to a local autobody shop, and pay them to spray it with clear coat ... I'm sure with their expertise, spray equipment & drying booth ... it'll look pretty good.

I'm not looking for perfection .... shoot, this Tuba is 55 yrs old, BUT ... it sounds really nice, and I'd like it to look shiny to an audience. Up close, you will see the scratches & dings ... but from a distance, it should look good.

Recommendations for a substitute to "Brasso"

Someone said a buffing compound ... any particular brand or type ?? Thanks everyone, I appreciate the feedback & input !

http://www.votawtool.com/supplies/buffi ... shing.html

Everything you're looking for is on that page.

Art Hovey wrote:Hang it over your fireplace if you have one.

That sounds like a clue. Even a year is kind of a long time to do without my tuba, but if there's something in wood fires that accelerates the process ... From a little followup research surfing I get the idea that a wide variety of sulfides, chlorides and whatnot have some potential here. Interesting tip, apparently Palmolive Dishwashing Liquid has sodium bisulphite and turns brass brown in minutes (if they haven't changed it in the last 5 years or so.)

You might check Ferree's to see what they have for buffing compounds. They're in Battle Creek MI and have been in business a long time
ScottM

Does anyone know how much it would cost to lacquer a raw brass tuba? I would rather let the professionals do it. I wouldn't be looking for a full overhaul. I just would rather not have everything turn green after playing F tuba.

Just coat it with some car wax. Just Relacquering isn't really a thing. You have to get all the dents, scratches, etc out before you can do anything else. For an MW45, I say "pass" on the overhaul, try the car wax.

The cost of it...? I'll just guess $1,500, but maybe more. Depends how much work is needed. Think of it like plastic surgery for tubas. Better to just get used to looking old.

michael_glenn wrote:Does anyone know how much it would cost to lacquer a raw brass tuba? I would rather let the professionals do it. I wouldn't be looking for a full overhaul. I just would rather not have everything turn green after playing F tuba.

What has to happen for your tuba to be relacquered is a removal of all dents, a patching(or brazing) of all cracks, then a complete degreasing and finally a complete buffing to shine.

I would speculate this to be close to the average cost of work:

http://www.1800usaband.com/uploaded/fil ... e_list.pdf" target="_blank

I found my ancient Mirafone 186 on ebay; it had maybe 40% of the lacquer left, which had greenish tint. I removed the lacquer with a paste paint paint stripper; the remaining finish turned thick and white and washed off.

I didn't really about the shine, but I wanted the color to be even over all. I tried several things; the best was Never-Dull, which comes in a short fat can. Inside is something like dryer lint soaked in gasoline. You don't really have to scrub, just wipe on. Wipe again; on the third or fourth pass it suddenly becomes shiny. Far less abrasive than Brasso.

When you are happy with the shine, use hot soapy water to kill the oil and smell, and to clean off the black film. I used a cheap long-handled paint brush to get in all the tight places between the guts.

nworbekim wrote: i'm wondering if i do the palmolive treatment and don't like it. how difficult is that to reverse? i imagine its quite a job?

how hard would it be to make the color uniform, or would it just get to a point and stop?

I haven't tried any of this stuff myself, but ... we're talking about tarnish, which is a superficial oxide layer. It's what you're removing when you polish. I believe it's a somewhat self stabilizing process, as the layer of oxide protects the metal from further exposure to oxidating agents, and anyway the effects of further oxidation are less noticeable as it gets further along. That said, I wouldn't bet my life I could get an even finish on a large expanse of metal with any quick method. Or slow method for that matter.

The issue I'd expect to be a problem with a "patina" finish is spots. A drop of something sits on the surface for too long and when you notice it, there's a dark spot of advancing corrosion. I don't trust a patina finish to be impervious to that, and while it isn't too hard to fix by spot polishing, that takes the patina off and you're back to square one. If you can put the patina back on with an easy ten minute spot patch using some sulfide treatment, without making it all blotchy, that would make a big difference.

("patina" = "tarnish")

Here are a few offerings on the topic you might find of interest (or not) on the subject.

http://www.oberloh.com/gallery/tubaoverhaul.htm
http://www.oberloh.com/gallery/alxcctuba.htm
http://www.oberloh.com/gallery/Hirsbrun ... roject.htm

As a side note, if you want the instrument "antiqued" it can be done in a hot water bath with the proper amount of liver of sulphur. Much faster then what has been suggested here so far. But, it takes a lot of clean up and degreasing prior to performing the task. Its not a DIY process.

Best regards,
Daniel C. Oberloh
Oberloh Woodwind and Brass Works
http://www.oberloh.com

When a shop does a lacquer job, do they lacquer it while the Tuba/Sousaphone is dissassembled? Or do they solder it all and lacquer it in one piece?

It also depends a bit on what kind of tuba it is. Many Yamaha Tubas can be taken apart into a valve section and a bugle section. Current production King 2341 tubas are also like this. On the other hand, those are less likely to need refinishing.