band directors: Would there be a market for...

[TubaTodd]

I'll bite....that sounds interesting. We could use a sousaphone or 2 at the school that my wife and I teach at. Right now our only tuba is a King 2341. We need something user friendly and CHEAP for next year's marching season. Fiberglass would be ideal.

[Joe Baker]

If my neck and shoulder pain comes, as I'm almost sure it does, from my years playing a brass sousaphone, then this is not only a great business idea but a great service to the players. As a parent, I'd buy one MYSELF at that price to keep my son from having the problems I'm having. I think it's a great idea.

Maybe you could make one up, and find one of the vendors who attends conferences who would be willing to show it for a piece of the action.
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Joe Baker, who knows his all-day-every-day computer use also contributes to his problems.

[harrell]

Yeah. I teach at a 5A band program with no budget. Our old Besson sousa's we inherited from previous directors are falling apart. We are considering anything right now for replacements.
We had talked about the Jupiter fiber/brass sousas.
This would be a heck of a lot cheaper.

[Chuck(G)]

Sounds interesting, Joe. I'm not too familiar with silver-colored auto paint, but could you make it look like "real" silver instead of "polished aluminum" (i.e. really cheezy-looking)?

[ThomasDodd]

- nickel-plated finish on valve section and bell screws

You plan to laquer the nickel parts right?

My nickel finish Olds bone still looks great except where the laquer has been scratched.

Given todays clearcoats, maybe you paint buddy can use that same clear coat on the nickel parts?

NOTE: The "optional" metal bell would need to be silver plated, because (it seems to me) most folks who do nickel plating don't have nickel tanks large enough for 24"-26" sousaphone bells...and a silver (vs. nickel) bell would probably be a better "sell", anyway - don't you think?

Maybe chrome then? I'd rather the nickel with a good clearcoat over it. I like the color better. I no lot's of drum & bugle corps horns are chrome plated, so it not just the cheap imports doing it. Same issue with the tank for chrome or do the chrome guys have big tanks?

Still sound like a cool idea, and a great price.
I just saw this but will check with a few directors I know.

[Rick Denney]

Maybe chrome then?

I would hope not. Chrome is just too hard and when it peels it makes razor-sharp edges. It would never stay secure on an instrument that gets dented. Blood would flow.

Rick "who almost lost a finger because of flaking chrome" Denney

[tubafour]

...and the color choices from the auto body paint suppliers are nearly endless.

What the world needs now is a bubblegum pink sousaphone to match that Kelly Mouthpiece!

We had a visiting band (the green wave) who brought along a big, nasty, beat up white whale that had a beautiful "psychodelic swirl"(sp?) painted on the inside of the bell.

Mabye they'll even make a TV show, if you'll do custom jobs. "This old horn".

On a serious note, I think the idea sounds wonderful, Bloke. I know that if I was a band director that cared about the sousaphone players' spinal columns, I would be first in line for one of these horns. Maybe even one in school colors would be requested.

[ThomasDodd]

Maybe chrome then?

I would hope not. Chrome is just too hard and when it peels it makes razor-sharp edges. It would never stay secure on an instrument that gets dented.

Why do (did?) the bugles use it then?
Seriously. I'm confused on this.

[Chuck(G)]

Maybe chrome then?

I would hope not. Chrome is just too hard and when it peels it makes razor-sharp edges. It would never stay secure on an instrument that gets dented.

Why do (did?) the bugles use it then?
Seriously. I'm confused on this.

There are two issues that I can think of--the one that Rick mentions--tuba bells really do get mashed up quite a bit and I'd be afraid of the chromium flaking off after one or two trips through the dent machine (chromium doesn't stretch like brass for one thing). The other is that soft solder doesn't stick to chromium at all.

[Leland]

There are two issues that I can think of--the one that Rick mentions--tuba bells really do get mashed up quite a bit and I'd be afraid of the chromium flaking off after one or two trips through the dent machine (chromium doesn't stretch like brass for one thing). The other is that soft solder doesn't stick to chromium at all.

Whatever DEG uses on their bugles, it almost never flakes. I really don't know what makes it different, but I see the "chrome" worn down to bare brass before I ever see it begin to flake -- and this is on some fairly beaten-n'-repaired horns.

But, yeah, it's still junk when it comes to soldering.

[ThomasDodd]

* Most of the "old" bugles were "stainless nickel" plated (a nickel-chrome alloy). Perhaps, a few of them were "pure chrome" plated, but I'm somewhat doubtful of this.

OK, like Leland added, I've seen them beat to hell with no flaking. They don't have the speckled look you mentioned either. Perhapse it's something else entirely?

* No, I would not lacquer over nickel plating. In five years or so, any lacquer (even epoxy) begins to fail with outdoor use, and the result would be a crapola finish.

OK. But I though in a previous thread there were concerns about raw nickel causing bad reactions in people.

[Rick Denney]

Why do (did?) the bugles use it then?
Seriously. I'm confused on this.

Because looks were more important than safety. That's the only reason I can come up with. Or, it's cheaper to chrome-plate than to silver-plate.

Just take a look at any chromed car bumper. If the bumper has been so much as touched by something big and heavy, the steel will have yielded a bit. And the chrome at the bolt holes and yield points will have cracked and peeled.

It's like painting a rubber ball. The rubber is more flexible than the paint, and the paint soon cracks and peels.

Nickel plating can peel, too. But it seems to be more ductile than chrome plating, and it doesn't peel as easily. Peeled chrome is literally razor sharp, and I have the scar to prove it. I was tugging on a chromed car bumper to straighten it on its mounts, and whipped my hand around to check the alignment. My left pinky finger caught a flake of peeling chrome on the way by. This chrome was thin enough to roll up like paper, but it still cut my finger literally to the bone. It was 30 years ago, but some impressions stick with you.

I also had a pair of chromed eyeglasses that corroded where the earpiece rested on the side of my face, and I cut myself once just pulling my glasses off. I pay extra for the titanium frames, or go cheap with painted frames now.

Silver plating seems to be as ductile as the brass substrate. When a silver-plate instrument gets dented, the silver will stretch along with the brass.

Rick "who thinks chrome is too cold looking, too" Denney