TromboneChat

I purchased a 25 year old Getzen 3047afr a few months back with the lacquer stripped from the bell. I’m not sure if the bell is oxidizing or if I can remove the marks. Is there any way for me to remove the stains or to relacquer my instrument? My trombone is from the custom series so they do sell new bells for my instrument. I like the raw brass look on my bell though. Plz give advice to a young trombone player

Some of those stains are pretty deep and may never come out. Somebody put the horn away wet. After you are done fixing this, make sure you wipe the moisture off the horn before you put it away.

You can try using a brass polish. I like the non-abrasive kind like Wright's LIQUID (not the paste) or a wadding like Nevr-Dull. Follow up with a good rinse and then I like to use some car wax on the bare brass. Note that it will never last like lacquer, so you will have to go through this a few times.

A do-it-yourself lacquer job is a good way to make the horn really ugly with drippy, runny lacquer with fisheyes; or you can make it so thick you ruin the response of the instrument. I like to leave relacquer to the pros. But a decent relacquer job can cost $500 or more. Don't do the bargain job; it will only be marginally better than what you can do yourself.

Nothing jumps out at me as being anything to worry about. You could potentially buff out or polish those but -and it's possible a tech will correct this -its probably only worth it if you want a shiny horn.

Another option - don't worry about it. I think it looks fine, personally.

I have several horns worse than yours. Don't bother about that if it plays well. A horn with laquer removed you can give a polish and then a layer of car wax. It can be a struggle to remove the deepest spots completely but they will be less notable. A horn with spots of no laquer is the problem. Either you remove all the laquer and give it a polish or you leave it as is. I don't bother much about the looks of a horn and nobody else I know have ever thought about that as a problem. If a horn is old it is expected to show.

/Tom

It gives the horn character! Leave it as is unless it really bothers you.

Lorenzo246 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:19 pm I like the raw brass look on my bell though.

That is the raw brass look.

That bell looks just fine!

...unless you want to spend money needlessly.

doctortrombone wrote: ↑Mon Jun 18, 2018 5:36 pm

Lorenzo246 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:19 pm I like the raw brass look on my bell though.

That is the raw brass look.

Exactly! The uglier your bell the better

My bass is completely unlacquered. It looks like I found my horn abandoned in a attic or in a dumpster. I personally dig the look!

If you want a shiny horn having a unlacqured horn is going to be a lot of work. Like others have mentioned those stains probably aren't going to come out.

All but a few of my horns over the past 30 years have been raw brass. Leave it and let it develop a patina over time. The look of an aged raw horn is uniquely beautiful. The constant buffing and polishing is annoying and takes time you could spend on other things like playing or listening to symphonies or sight singing ... all way better for you as a young musician.

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I can tell you as a technician that areas like these are best left alone unless you desire to unlacquer the bell. There will not be a playability benefit by relacquering nor will this type of area be detrimental to your instrument. If you dislike the way it looks, you could use some Flitz metal polish to polish the area when it oxidizes like this but know that it will obviously just go back and darken since it is exposed to air and thus will oxidizes. My recommendation is to enjoy your instrument, do your maintenance as needed, and have a good technician in mind for times when you might need to take it to someone in the future. Hope you enjoy your horn!

This is my trombone now my trombone looks brand new, I really enjoy how it looks and I appreciate the help i got from the older community

What did you end us using on it? I have used Wright's Brass polish on my bar brass horns and was curious about your project.

So on a whim I grabbed the Maguires Aluminum wheel polish and worked on the bare brass bell of my Conn 32H. I am pleasantly surprised how well it worked. Pics later.