Matte and Soda-Blasted Finishes

[Dan Schultz]

You want a matte finish on a tuba? Care-wise, this appears to be somewhat like 'soda-blasted' brass finishes and satin-silver finishes...
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/ ... 56232.html

[The Big Ben]

I'm interested in a soda-blasted finish on my brass tuba. I'm not familiar enough with how it works on brass because I have only seen it used on aluminum and steel automotive and motorcycle parts. At first impression, soda blasting would avoid the skill necessary to properly buff and polish an instrument and, unlike bead or sand blasting, very little of the base metal would be removed. Then, again, I only have experience with motorcycle parts. In that application, soda blasting seems to clean and refinish the metal without much wear to the part.

Anyone done it on a complete instrument?

[Tubajug]

I bead blasted my King 1240 to get the lacquer off, so it took it down to bare brass. The finish has "mellowed out" a bit since it was done. Below is the link to the thread I wrote about it.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=48084&hilit=bead+blasted" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Here it is right after I did it:



Here is a more recent picture. The lighting is probably a big part, but the color seems to have darkened a bit.

[The Big Ben]

Yes, I'd like that kind of finish. I think that the fact that the surface looks more even in color after the bead blasting improves the appearance. My tuba doesn't have a lot of large dents but the lacquer is very uneven and spotty. The only way to fix the little dents would be to take the horn apart and use dent balls and rings plus the buffer. A nice even finish on my tuba really would be an improvement without spending the money to do a restoration with a perfect finish.

[Tubajug]

That's why I did it, to get a uniform finish on it. I'm going to blast it one more time now that I've flipped the first valve and gotten most of the dents out (which was my own experimenting with magnets and balls). I just have to solder it back together and then I'll blast it next weekend.

[The Big Ben]

Do post a picture when you consider it finished.

Looks like a good alternative to more expensive finishes.