Silver Lacquer

[Rick Denney]

Not a direct answer, but the next time you see the Air Force Band Ceremonial Brass, and marvel at their satin silver sousaphones, then you'll know what to expect from automotive metallic silver paint. Those sousaphones are fiberglass and were painted by an automotive body shop (an expert, by the way). They are durable, but fiberglass is a substrate that paint expert understood well, and that's why this isn't a direct answer.

Rick "who will paint his fiberglass tuba something elegant and classic--satin black " Denney

[TubaRay]

Rick "who will paint his fiberglass tuba something elegant and classic--satin black " Denney

I believe that would look really cool.

[TubaRay]

My youngest daughter would want pink with a Hello Kitty sticker in the bell.

LOL

[SousaSaver]

What about the wipe on silver compounds? Like the stuff that caswell sells.

Those kits are fine for touch ups but wouldn't be suitable to use over an entire horn. The coverage wouldn't be very thick and it would be a MAJOR hassle to plate an instrument that way, in my humble opinion.

That being said, I have a caswell touch up kit that works pretty well for me although I don't use it very often.

[SousaSaver]

The trouble is that those kits don't put as much silver on as a job from Anderson would.

If you have some experience with this stuff you can get a pretty good layer on, but it still isn't as good as a pro job from Anderson.

From my experience and in my opinion, touch plating isn't bad but it is akin to a band-aid. If you want it done right, you should have Anderson do it.

[tubaguy9]

I agree with BRSousa on this. Yeah, it can do a pretty good job of spot plating, but it shouldn't be a big spot. Rule of thumb: it works on areas about that big. It'll save a lot of money compared to some platers, but won't do as good as the factory plating.