I have an old tarnished Army bugle on my boat to conform to a Coast Guard reg that a boat over a certain length must carry an air powered horn. In fog, they recommend 2 blasts per minute.
Electric horns stop when batteries give out. Gas bottle horns only can blow for 10 seconds tops. What if there is still fog around when the bottles and batteries are exhausted?
I guarantee you my ole gas bag self will be honkin' that fog horn all day and night if necessary. If a ship runs over me it will be because it needs a muffler or the lookout guy is deaf.
I'm gonna try the plastic bag idea. My bugle has been stored in an underseat locker for ten years and has turned lots of colors. First I have to get most of that green stuff off the old honker.
All jokes aside, when I first saw the post, I was amused and my head filled with wisecracks. Then I read the post about needing the air horn on the boat due to Coast Guard regs. It just goes to show there are no bad or silly ideas, just those that don't have an application, yet.
an old fiberglass sousa bell....several feet of tubing run into the cabin next to the wheel.......a permanetly mounted mouthpiece at head level........
Kurt Schneider, harmonica-ist for the Half-Fast Creekers, has a two foot long brass fog horn-operated by a plunger-mounted on his binnacle, just forward of the wheel. It only makes one note but varying the pressure while pushing down on the plunger sounds cool.
an old fiberglass sousa bell....several feet of tubing run into the cabin next to the wheel.......a permanetly mounted mouthpiece at head level........
oldbandnerd wrote:From the " Too much time on my hands dept . " : How to stop tarnish forever .......
Step 1. The poor tarnished raw brass bugle :
Step 3. ...... ARE YOU READY FOR THIS ? .....
Seal the horn in a Seal a Meal bag !!!
A gift to my wife and I from mom . A Rival SEAL-A-MEAL . I had to play with it .
It's no deep dark secret that exposure to the atmosphere and the chemicals present there is the reason for tarnish.
Now... how do you play the horn while it's in a plastic bag?
I have a vent-free gas fireplace which produces mild amounts of sulfur. Often during the winter, I keep my silver plated horns under dry cleaning bags to slow down the tarnishing process.
Dan Schultz
"The Village Tinker" http://www.thevillagetinker.com" target="_blank
Current 'stable'... Rudolf Meinl 5/4, Marzan (by Willson) euph, King 2341, Alphorn, and other strange stuff.
Now... how do you play the horn while it's in a plastic bag?
It seems your the only to think that far ahead about this whole post . The answer is I don't play it anymore .That's why I wanted to store it somehow so I will not have to keep polishing it every month or so .
I used to played for my son's Boy Scout outings and for other Scout functions whenever asked to. But I got tired of hearing the complaints and snide remarks about my less then perfect playing . So I said **** it and just quite playing it all together. The mouthpiece is very small and shallow and difficult to keep in practice on unless I played many hours a week. I just didn't have the time . I barley have to time to practice my euphonium and it's my first true love anyway .
