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I normally don't care that much about the appearance of my tuba. If it plays well then I'm good. However, last week at a church gig, the music director made a comment about my tuba looking rough. If this is going to prevent me from getting called back, I at least want to clean the bell so the part that is visible above the stand looks presentable.
It has some lacquer and some raw brass. What can I use at home that is safe?

Try soap and water then a car wax. Use a dish soap or a car wash soap. If it is oxidized, use the 3M tarnish shield for copper and brass first. Follow label directions.

That looks like water spots as much as lacquer wear.

Step 1 is cleaning the brass (I forget what to use, but don't use Brasso). I can't tell how much lacquer there is in the part pictured, but start with something gentle like soap and water as suggested. Might take a little elbow grease.
Step 2 is polishing it to protect it a bit (so the next water spots won't mess it up right away).

From the picture, it does look a bit dirty, and would probably clean up okay with some elbow grease.

Or leave it as is and tell the music director that HE looks a little rough.

Pledge furniture polish will remove the water spots and dirt.

So it seems to be mostly raw brass with no lacquer. Soap and water didn't do anything and neither did pledge. Brasso is out, but what is good for cleaning raw brass? Is this anything? It is available at a local store.

http://jawright.com/Brass-Clean-Polish/ ... olish-8-oz

I like the brushed look on raw brass. Last project involved using an orange/citrus stripper to remove lacquer, clean as per directions, then Brasso with 0000 steel wool rubbed in the appropriate directions. Clean with warm/hot water and plenty of clean rags to remove the oil in the polish and the dust/film residue. Dish detergents, some soaps and industrial degreasers may darken the brass. I try to avoid that darkened/dull look. Go ahead an finish off with a coat of car polish. I suppose I am a bit impatient and prefer cutting to the chase with the strongest brass polish (Brasso or Noxon) I realize some out there have an aversion to them. Have always done it in a ventilated garage so never really noticed much in the way of fumes. I take 1/2 inch lamp wicking (from a fabric store) to rag between the tubes and branches. Works well, is strong and holds polish in the weave of the wick. I understand that if the repair tech is familiar with the water temperature, lacquer can be removed in an ultrasound. A lot less messier, but will cost a few bucks. IMHO, raw brass is cool and shows some character, especially if the horn has seen some service.

Brasso is out? Brasso is great. Just use Brasso. If you don't want to use it very often get used to wiping drips off the horn fanatically.

TheGoyWonder wrote:Brasso is out? Brasso is great. Just use Brasso. If you don't want to use it very often get used to wiping drips off the horn fanatically.

Brasso does work well to polish raw brass and silver plate. The problem is that it is maybe a little too strong and contains ammonia. Ammonia is bad for brass as it makes it (brass) brittle over time if used over and over. But I suppose it is OK to use Brasso sparingly, only when really necessary. Just make sure you get ALL the paste off afterward; maybe wipe it down with denatured alcohol or some other mild cleaner.

Just to follow up, the polish that I linked above is just brasso in a different bottle. I did some research and eventually used NevrDull. It worked well for my purposes.

I had a tuba in similar condition. (Actually it was worse looking). I hit the bell and outer wraps with brasso til it was down to bare brass. Washed well with soap and water. Waxed with carnuba car wax. Looks good now. Not great but good.

bloke wrote:anything that isn't visually abrasive, like Scotch-Brite, steel wool, etc.

IMO, those types of surface appearances render instruments more difficult to sell...so I guess I'm saying that those types of surfaces detract from an instrument's value until they are removed.

It's an Olds O99-4 and I can safely say that I will not be selling it with or without those spots.

mshores wrote:It's an Olds O99-4 and I can safely say that I will not be selling it with or without those spots.

Cool, that's sure worth a little polishing up. I think it might be an improvement that the lacquer is gone. Maybe something about their lacquer formula, in addition to the usual scabby effect of lacquer wear they often seem to get a sort of pink rash. Anyway, I bloke seems to be talking about the down side of a scoured finish, which I guess you probably didn't do, it just came up as one of your possible options. Very popular on doorknobs etc.

I think it would be interesting to see a few cleaned up O99s. Relacquered, unlacquered with well maintained oxide patina, unlacquered with car wax, scoured finish, Plasti-dip, anything that turned out well.

mshores wrote:

bloke wrote:anything that isn't visually abrasive, like Scotch-Brite, steel wool, etc.

IMO, those types of surface appearances render instruments more difficult to sell...so I guess I'm saying that those types of surfaces detract from an instrument's value until they are removed.

It's an Olds O99-4 and I can safely say that I will not be selling it with or without those spots.

Never get rid of an O-99. Great playing smaller horns. Have one myself. Wouldn't trade it for anything.