Are there any disadvantages to removing the lacquer

ARB · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 7:42 am Post subject:

from a vintage horn and leaving it un-lacquered? Is there any special care required to maintain the horn?
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_Don Herman · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 8:07 am Post subject:

No special care, but raw brass can be considered a hazardous material. Do search on TH and you'll find nearly endles debates on the pros and cons. Personally, I'd have it relacquered, or silver plated.

FWIW - Don
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bent trumpet · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 8:42 am Post subject:

I have a few vintage raw brass horns that I use a lot. I use leather valve guards on those horns, and so far I have not had much of a problem with skin irritation. I do notice, as well as my wife, that my hands smell like brass after I handle those raw brass instruments.

_PhilPicc · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 8:49 am Post subject:

Make sure that you are not playing on a raw brass mouthpiece.
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bgwbold · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 10:01 am Post subject:

I think the skin reaction must vary from person to person on a raw brass horn. My hands do not smell funny, but I have almost always used leather valve covers.

Mike

jharris2 · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 10:44 am Post subject:

My Olds Ambassador is raw brass, and just yesterday I finished giving it a thorough exterior cleaning. To protect it, I'm trying some car wax to see if it helps keep it cleaner. We'll see if Meguiar's Gold Class wax (safe for clear coat finishes) will do the trick.

At the very least, it sure is shiny now!

BADBOY-DON · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 10:49 am Post subject:

Just like smoking....Raw brass is nothing to worry about, what-so-ever!!
THAT IS...until your old bod begins to tell you that you have finally reached its own tolorance level...

Yes, these metal toxins build up and store nicely in the old bodies system...but my doc said that working with any kind of raw metals can be hazardous..if combined with salts from body fluids (sweat) and skin is waaaaaaaaaaaay more porus' that one would think. (Some body chemistries have more acids that others...and some folks are natuarally more "imune" than others...but last and formost!!!

Wash your hands carefully after handling any kind of raw metals..
(That smell on your hands...hummm? Do you think that bod of your's is speaking to you to use a bit of caution?

My exposure was not from years of playing brass trumpets...but from as an artist display, jouneyman modelmaker..where I built custom plaques and throphies and metal art sculpturing and during the finishing, sanding and polishing processes...I WAS STUPID AND CARELESS...with the lame thought....that this old tale about brass poisioning was nuttin' to care about nallthatjazz.

Bottom line: Just take simple precautions...and one should be able to play a raw brass instrument for the rest of their lives, without serious problems..BUT WHO KNOWS FOR SURE???? "UHH, I DO?

BBoy-don

OldKid · Veteran Member Joined: 04 Sep 2003 Posts: 135

I think the best way to handle raw brass is to use leather or wear gloves. I personally have never had a reaction other than from a worn mouthpiece.
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BADBOY-DON · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 11:03 am Post subject:

ADVANTAGES TO A RAW BRASS INSTRUMENT???

Many claim that the instruments..."sound warmer, more regal....have more overtones...but advantage?

They can look really cool and as you may know the pourosity of brass itself can take on some really quite beautiful colorizations and hues as it ages and becomes exposed to all kinds of input from living in a modern world. These horns can almost begin to take on a trademark appearence from being around their own enviomental surroundings. From body oils..valve oils..one of my friend practices out in his garage and has his T-bone hanging next to the Gas furnace and next to his yard fertilizer and yard chemicals...Gads, you ought to see how weirdly beautiful that old trombone looks with that unusal FOE'FEE-FI-FINISH with its orange-bluegreenish,rustybrown, golden to black spots and swirls. He is afraid to polish it because of its really artistic look?

perhaps the biggest advantage...if little care is taken with the raw brass horn....is that one might be in line for a brand new purty horn...because the old raw brass one's metal pitted and red-rotted its way into the dumpster.

Just razzin'

Tootsall · Heavyweight Member Joined: 05 May 2002 Posts: 2952

BBD, not questioning you or your doctor... but you said you were sanding, polishing, shaping etc. Do you think that inhaled dust might be significantly more serious as the culprit than trans-derma absorption? Just wondering. Seems we find more and more dusts, etc. are carcinogenic than our grandpappys or pappys would ever have thought....even silica dust (sand) is now considered a carcinogen.

bgwbold · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 12:42 pm Post subject:

When we were kids, we used to carry oilfield mercury to school, shine up coins with it, play with it, etc. Now they might call a haz mat team if someone showed up with that much mercury at a school. It pays to be cautious.

Mike

Tootsall · Heavyweight Member Joined: 05 May 2002 Posts: 2952

Yes Mike. I used to remember those days too ... but I don't remember them any longer!

Made some nice, shiny, slippery dimes didn't it?

BADBOY-DON · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 8:45 pm Post subject:

Actually to work and finish brass...I made the daily habit of burnishing and polishing under running water,which is a great way to get the best results) (without rubber gloves...and yes, I often did have to turn brass on a lathe as well as cut and sandblast..and so I would say...ALL THE ABOVE...I was a very poor example of using safe work practices...and I paid the price...BIG TIME. Combine all the polishing, burnishing and top coat 2 part epoxy and Emeron catylized clear coat...I didn't stand a ghost of a chance of not becoming "pickled up to my ear and eyeballs in too much over exposure...AS ALL OF YOU CAN ATTEST BY MY POSTS....what the final results can be...LOL!

Of all the the things I miss the most..from all this, is MY MIND...OF COURSE! :smile:

[ This Message was edited by: BADBOY-DON on 2003-09-24 23:47 ]