TromboneChat

Hi, trombrethren!
I just snagged a used horn (from a high school marching band) for cheap on eBay - but it's missing a good amount of lacquer and I think it may look a bit nicer if the remaining lacquer were stripped and I scoured it to give it a sort of matte/satin finish (won't disclose the horn so as to not awaken anyone who may've been an opponent  ).
I'm going to have the horn serviced beforehand, of course. I've asked about stuff like this before, but I'm not really going to have tons of time to play in the coming weeks so this'll likely just be a bit of a project anyway.
Any thoughts?

I've done it to several horns and been generally pleased with the result. I use a bench grinder with a wire wheel when I do it.

Whatever you use to scratch the surface, make sure the strokes are in the same direction.  The worst thing you can do is to make circles like you are waxing a car -- the result looks disorganized.  I personally like strokes along the bell stem toward the rim, but strokes around the pipe work as well.

For hand use, a fine sandpaper like 500 grit used wet works well.  Or 320 grit Scotch Brite (the green stuff).

Good luck and have fun.

Whatever you use to scratch the surface, make sure the strokes are in the same direction.  The worst thing you can do is to make circles like you are waxing a car -- the result looks disorganized.  I personally like strokes along the bell stem toward the rim, but strokes around the pipe work as well.

For hand use, a fine sandpaper like 500 grit used wet works well.  Or 320 grit Scotch Brite (the green stuff).

Good luck and have fun.