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BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration (customer)
Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:52 pm
by bloke
“Hey bloke,
I heard that you might straighten out my beat-up 24 inch detachable Conn 25J bell. strip it, polish it, and relacquer it.”
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“You heard wrong.”
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“…and bloke, I also heard that you were looking for a set of _______ , a ________ , and a _______ . I have all of those.”
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“When are you bringing the 25J bell over?”
Re: BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 12:17 am
by bort2.0
What Joe really heard -- "I can pay in non-USD commodities, which are likely to have more value than lets-just-print-more dollars."
But really, 25J bells are detachable, and easier to work with, right?
Re: BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 12:29 am
by bloke
ridiculous area (sq. ft.) involved in those 24” bells…so…many…dents…
… and then double that area x two sides to strip, polish, and shoot
four hours… What I REALLY needed was a four hour nap.
Re: BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 1:09 am
by bort2.0
Fair 'nuff.
What does "BAB" mean anyway?
Re: BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:36 am
by the elephant
"I have two chickens and a goat, same as cash…"
Re: BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 6:03 am
by York-aholic
the elephant wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:36 am
"I have two chickens and a goat, same as cash…"
Perhaps better than cash.
Re: BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 6:16 am
by the elephant
York-aholic wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 6:03 am
the elephant wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:36 am
"I have two chickens and a goat, same as cash…"
Perhaps better than cash.
Non-confiscatory barter is always the better choice…
Re: BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 6:50 am
by bloke
What does it mean…???
… you mean OTHER THAN
Big
@ss
Bell
…????
74% humidity, this morning… Lacquering should be fun and games.
Re: BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 9:12 am
by the elephant
bloke wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 6:50 am74% humidity, this morning… Lacquering should be fun and games.
Indeed. According to my vintage Taylor Instruments sling psychrometer, it is 87% here right now. How gross.
Re: BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 10:36 am
by bloke
It was actually sprinkling when I was spraying lacquer.
I shot the outside of the bell, which promptly turned white.
I poured my mix out of the aluminum Binks spray cup into a small glass pickle jar, dumped 100% drying retarder into the gun, hit it again, and it was restored to clear.
I added some of that drying retarder to my mix, poured the rest of that drying retarder back into its can, and shot the inside of the bell.
It turned out fine - no dust, no runs. Though very smooth and shiny, this bell is not elegant...I didn't buff out any scratches, as the bell had already been refinished once, the scratches were epic (surely, it's "efficiently-flattened" pancake was routinely pounded against the concrete at some past school), and - without any refinishing - those bells - arguably - are "just" thick enough (in order to not have to be super careful with them). I tend to believe that the old 1930's-40's 38K and 1950's 20K sousaphone bells were one gauge thicker that these 25J bells.
' film at 11.
Re: BAB: 25J detachable upright bell restoration
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 11:40 am
by bloke
OK...
How about "film at 12...??
I also removed quite a few epic dents from the body (ONLY with magnets), and discovered that the replacement mouthpipe tube was never completely soldered to the receiver (fffffffffft). Actually a friend who was helping me (helping a LOT) discovered that.
A good bit of the oem (probably: 60-year-old) brittle lacquer chipped off the repaired areas, so I shined those up and hit them with clear.
The body subsequently looks "patchy", but no longer looks "beat up".
