Conn 20k "Restoration" Advice

[oscarcahue]

Hey guys, I was hoping to get some feedback or advice on how to go about getting a 20k I acquired in nice condition.
I bought it at a good price, and am hoping to "restore" it, get a few months of performances out of it, and probably sell it. (I think I like my Conn 32k more). & Use it as a learning experience too.

Here's pictures of what the 20k looks like after giving it a good soap & water shower outdoors & some scrubbing.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing" target="_blank

To me it looks like much of the lacquer is gone anyway so I decided to try and learn how to buff it. I know there's consequences to going Raw Brass, I've been reading the forums here. But I wasn't a fan of the Patina; especially the bell. I started working on the Bell, slides, & valve caps.
I'm struggling to make progress buffing it down though. It's been slow & inefficient. Although I managed to buff down 80% of the back of the bell, I'm struggling with the remaining.

Progress:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing" target="_blank

Is the 1/2 HP motor too small for this work?
What's worked best is a denim buffing wheel & Black Emery. I also used coarse "rope-like" buffing wheel and that really really worked but was getting way to hot that the lacquer on the front side of the bell was burning. Any recommendations there?
Should I have removed any remaining lacquer before buffing?
Should I have sanded down the thick layer of patina, gunk, etc before buffing? If so, with what?


Like I said I'm taking this as a learning experience. I know I should just "take it to a pro" but I've also read that you guys aren't a fan of these tedious & time consuming kind of projects.

Do you guys think I should just do the bell & leave the patina on the body? Maybe try to get the larger dents on the outer bow out and call it a day?

Any advice/recommendations/critics are appreciated. Thanks.

[toobagrowl]

It is a lot of work to strip lacquer, polish/degrease and re-lacquer a large sousa or tuba. Those dark mottled spots on your sousa are where the old lacquer has discolored. Are you just wanting to do a very basic 'restoration' on it, then flip it later on or keep it? You could probably do a very basic polish/lacquer/dent work job on it (like what I did with my 14k). But if you actually want it to look really nice, you'd have to take it to a good pro, or spend a lot of time/effort if you do it yourself. Even bloke has commented on how much of a 'job' it is to do that type of work.

If you don't mind the horn having a 'vintage' look to it, then just clean/polish up what you can, spray lacquer the horn, and take the major dents out. If everything is in good working order, then that's less to worry about. I had to do a LOT of work to get my 14k in good working order -- replacement 3rd valve, work on the 3rd valve casing, replacement neck/bits, solder work, new bell screws, etc. I didn't wanna spend a ton of money on making it look even close to 'factory' after all that, I just wanted to have the major dents out and a lacquer coating over the horn, even over the spotty ugly old lacquer. Too much work to actually strip all that crap off, buff/polish/degrease, and lacquer. Main thing is that it plays really great

[oscarcahue]

And because its such hassle & hence expense, I want to take it on.

So how should i go about cleaning it prior to polishing? Should I continue to polish it down to the shiny metal? Or Should I be sanding the "dark spots" with sandpaper first?
I want to do as much as I can to it and if I do a decent job, I'll go take it to get lacquered professionally.
And the horn doesn't much work at all other than the dent work & appearance. I'm also a little nervous to take on desoldering the bows to get the dents out. But then again at any point I can just decide, its time to take it over to someone to finish the job. How feasible is it to desolder it to get the dents out & polish using just a butene hand torch? Is an acetylene torch needed for a big instrument like this?

[toobagrowl]

I'd get some Citristrip to strip the old lacquer off first. Paint it on over the sousa with a brush, let it stay on to dissolve the old lacquer. Scrape/scrub off all the gunk -- you may have to do this a few times to get stubborn lacquer off. Then clean/degrease the horn to make sure it is super clean before applying spray lacquer.

As for dent work, do you know anyone with a "Dent Eraser" kit? That way, you can get the major dents out without unsoldering anything. It is worth it to pay someone who has the magnetic dent ball eraser kit to do a quick go thru the sousa and take the major dents out

You said your 20k doesn't much work now. I see it has all parts, so what is wrong with it? Are the valves messed up? Are they leaky? Maybe there is an obstruction? Do tell

[oscarcahue]

Got it thanks! Did not know about Citristrip, seems like a safe stripping alternative.
I invested in some dent equipment, so I'll see how that goes.
& I meant there wasn't much needed. It's in great playing shape as is right now.