how to unlacquer your horn

[Bignick1357]

I have a pretty old miraphone 186 its a great sounding horn but not the best looks. it have alot of the laquer gone but not all of it and was wondering how I could get the rest off

[Alex C]

A friend of mine used 0000 steel wool on his Edwards bass trombone bell. That's not a good idea. I stripped the lacquer off a tuba at a car wash once. The high pressure spray bit right into the lacquer and peeled it right off. Two bucks and it was completely stripped.

I'm sure the good folks of Tubenet will suggest the correct chemical lacquer stripper, and that is the best way.

[tubaguy9]

dangerously going...would be aircraft paint stripper...
safter going...red scotchbrite and elbow grease.

Steel wool isn't that good...because there's the possibility of the steel embedding itself in the brass...

[stardude82]

I have a UMI made marching baritone where the laquer just fell off after a warm bath with a little Simple Green (tm)!

Second, try isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) or some other alcohol , if its a non-synthetic lacquer this might work. Then if that just didn't cause it to fall of, I'd use MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) which is pretty safe stuff and less volatile than acetone. Xylene or acetone can also be an option.

Klean Strip and others sell solvents specific to thinning/dissolving lacquer and is cheaper, but that stuff is considerable worse for you (lots of Toluene).There are some wonderful CFC which would work great too, if you can afford them. Most of the good Fluoride/Chloride based solvents have been phased out or taxed exorbitantly (gotta save those penguins!). There are some good non-halide reformulations of aircraft paint strip now, too.

I wouldn't think any of theses organic solvents would hurt the brass. Just work outside and you should be fine.

[Dan Schultz]

'Aircraft' stripper from your local auto parts store will do a fine job on original Mirafone lacquer. Just brush it on... let it sit for a few minutes... and hose it off.

This stuff works well with most air-dry lacquers. You'll know pretty quickly if you're trying to take off some of that nasty old King 'Eastlake' lacquer... the orange-ish stuff. You'll need caustics to strip that stuff. I've found that Easy-Off oven cleaner will work but don't leave it on very long or you'll have a black horn that requires extensive buffing to get cleaned up.

If you plan on making extensive repairs to a horn.... strip it first.... BEFORE applying soldering heat. A torch will turn most coatings into glass and make them removable by no other means than with abrasives or buffing.

Wear safety glasses!

[sloan]

Play it every day for 40 years.

[skeath]

The trombone player in my quintet stripped the lacquer off of his trombone bell by dipping it in boiling water for a few minutes. If you pour boiling water or some solvent over it, you should remove any corks or bumpers first.

[kegmcnabb]

Play it every day for 40 years.

[Bignick1357]

Now these are great ideas and would it be better to unlaquer it or get it relacquered and how much would I be looking at for that?

[stardude82]

If you look through the achieves, the general consensus is: you don't or its best to leave it to the professionals.