Giving a tuba a brushed finish

[IsaacTuba]

How would I go about giving my lacquer tuba a brushed matte finish? Also, what kind of risks are there and does it change the sound at all? I still want my tuba to have a long lifetime.

[PMeuph]

I've used a scotchbrite pad to brush finish a trombone. Cleaned the horn, removed all the lacquer, and then carefully scrubbed it with the scotchbrite. I maintained it with Carnauba car wax after.

I would never do it to an instrument that looks good, but would do it for an instrument where the lacquer is already gone. To do a complete tuba, nooks and crannies and all would probably take at least 20 hours of work, I don't have that kind of time to waster anymore. You should know that if you do decide to do this, there's no going back, your horn's value will drop abd you may end up having a shi**y looking instrument once you're done.

As for the sound, I can say that my ears weren't good enough to notice any difference between the lacquered trombone and the unlacquered one.

[IsaacTuba]

I’ll probably just play it safe and not brush it until it gets old and the laquer is off.