Powder Coated Experiment

[FullPedalTrombonist]

I had this done last summer and I’ve gathered some thoughts since then. Here they are.

A section mate is on the construction crew for a facility that does powder coating and his son works at the coating company. He decided it’d be fun to give a 6-1/2AL he had rattling around a candy apple red finish because it was free and the piece had a lot of dings and plating loss. Turns out it pretty much restored its functionality. He taped the shank so it’d still fit properly, but let the cup get coated. Slightly different blow he said.

I had a Schilke that I used to use for euph in HS and in marching band it got dropped and I just got a different mouthpiece. I ended up sanding the sharp dings out and left the brass exposed on the rim and the shank. It sat for a while before I took some more sandpaper and changed the shape of the rim. I like how it feels, but don’t play euph anymore and don’t love the taste of brass. It’s okay on large tenor. I guess a near useless mouthpiece couldn’t be hurt by a free powder coating. So I chose a trendy concrete color and handed it to my friend and the next rehearsal he handed me this:







The coating doesn’t go past the throat, but does technically make the inner rim and cup dimensions smaller. Not enough for me to tell from what I remember how it was before, though. YMMV. The feel on the face is actually quite nice. Like Lexan. Not horribly grippy, nice and soft, and no stinkiness like some coatings leave for a while. I don’t feel it helps or hinders movement up and down the range I can play, but it’s very comfortable. Maybe it would help against fatigue, but I haven’t played it long enough in one sitting to see if I tire out at the same rate. I did a scratch and ding test by smacking it against some stuff and scratching with my keys and results are positive.

Now... would I recommend this for everyone/anyone? I don’t see a real reason. There are a lot of hypoallergenic options out there and if you love a mouthpiece that you’ve worn the plating off of I’d definitely suggest a service that carefully restores and replates. But if you like gimmicks and color options and have a beat up mouthpiece and the service is cheap enough or free why not?

[FullPedalTrombonist]

Links didn’t work

[hyperbolica]

very cool!

[walldaja]

You could be on the ground floor of a new restoration / custom business. How's the feel on the lips? Slippery? Sticky?

[BigBadandBass]

Alternative to gold plating or lexan mouthpieces?

[BGuttman]

Powder coating is thicker than plating and I would expect the result to be a bit smaller than the original; maybe too small.

Depending on the powder coat it could be sticky or slippery; more likely sticky.

[FullPedalTrombonist]

Like I said the feel is similar to Lexan. Slightly more slick than my Kelly’s or DE rims. It is a thick coating, but it was too small before the coating. I play on a DE 104N for my tenor-sized stuff.

It doesn’t stay warm for that much longer and doesn’t “feel” warm from the start noticeably enough to warrant suggesting it for cold weather.

I also don’t know what they used to powder coat. There are different compounds and I never asked. I will this evening.

Also, as above, I would not suggest this to anyone for restoration of a loved piece. Only for novelty really. I wouldn’t mind powder coating some dinged up larger pieces ( probably masking off the inside after the rim bite ), but there’s no need at the moment.

If the service is still free to me I’ll have it done to a piece I like enough to daily and give it a longer test drive.

All in all:

If I needed hypoallergenic I’d so Lexan, SS, , delrin, horn...

If I needed cold weather friendly... Lexan, horn, delrin

Restoring a rare, one off, or loved piece... I’d go as far as queuing up in the production line to have a piece scanned and duplicated or have a trusted maker buff and replate the rim. I have a well worn heavy NY 15C that’s great for alto and even bass trumpet that I go to the trouble of using a light layer of nail top coat and repainting when needed. Eventually I’ll just get a DE XTA...

[FullPedalTrombonist]

Alternative to gold plating or lexan mouthpieces?

I’d much rather search all the hypoallergenic options first. If a mustache is an issue for taking off gold plate, a brass mouthpiece is the only way to go, no DE it any other Lexan/delrin/nylon/whatever else rims are made of is favored then yes. I think it’s pretty cheap even if you don’t have friends who do it for free. But you have to know what they use, how it feels, how it smells, and have the mouthpiece you want slightly larger than you want because the layers are much more thick than silver or silver and gold.

[Burgerbob]

Is this food grade? Safe for human use over long periods?

[FullPedalTrombonist]

Is this food grade? Safe for human use over long periods?

Another thing I don’t know. They do coatings for all sorts of things including playground equipment. I’m definitely not licking the piece but it’s on my face. I would assume nail top coat, which wears off fast, is also not food grade. Who knows which is more nasty

[biggiesmalls]

You could also try Cerakote, a ceramic coating used primarily in the firearms industry, but also used for custom bicycle frames etc. It's much thinner than powder-coating, and even more durable. Some shops that do powder-coating also do Cerakote. There's also a DIY kit that you can use to bake on a Cerakote finish in your oven!

[FullPedalTrombonist]

You could also try Cerakote, a ceramic coating used primarily in the firearms industry, but also used for custom bicycle frames etc. It's much thinner than powder-coating, and even more durable. Some shops that do powder-coating also do Cerakote. There's also a DIY kit that you can use to bake on a Cerakote finish in your oven!

Another thing I thought about because of its automotive popularity. Again I didn’t because this was totally free.

[FullPedalTrombonist]

So I asked if my friend knew if it was food safe. He said it’s likely to be at least human safe because of the variety of products that get coated. I have the service number to ask directly what the compound is.

We may do another round with another super thin clear gloss coating that he’ll get back to me with the name of and some info. But I also need to find an old 6-1/2AL of something in my drawer to try it on. Because why not.

Usual disclaimer: I do not recommend this other than “try it if you can ask your local powder coater what they use and are comfortable with putting it on your face.” There are plenty of other options to achieve pretty much what this does.