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I recently saw a tuba for sale. The lacquer had been removed and so it’s raw brass, but it has a “brushed” finish. I’m guessing the lacquer was physically removed by a wire brush on an arbor? And it left behind a kind of semi- matte “finish” with the brush marks visible. To be honest, I kind of dig the look. But is this a good idea? Wouldn’t a good deal of brass be lost in a process like this?

I did this once with a Besson Eb. It had terrible old peeling and sick-looking lacquer. I first stripped it with aircraft remover and then used Scotchbrite and fine grain sandpaper to create a uniform brushed finish.

Sure, by definition some material will be removed, but it didn't seem like very much at all. I'd say it's a lot easier to remove too much material on a buffing wheel than it is to remove too much when you're using elbow grease and only doing it until it looks not-shiny/not-splotchy. So, probably depends on your method.

Here is what I ended up with:

You might be referring to my tuba??

It’s brushed then has a dark lacquer on top.

Do you have a photo?

I've referred to this a few times recently... In the early Conn 5xJ years, they offered a "satin lacquer" finish. I'm not sure if it is the usual bead blast of satin silver, or just a different finish, or....?

But the matte brass with shiny brass accents is very classy IMO.

I used a fine steel wool when removing the old lacquer from this little York master 20 plus years ago. Does not look as cool as the factory conn but not bad and I did not re apply lacquer. I left it raw brass. Those conns were neat with the different finished. My teacher bought the 56j in satin silver and it was a beautiful tuba.


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I don’t know how to post the link to the picture but the tuba is listed on the Facebook group “Euphoniums and tubas for sale and wanted”. It was posted 2 days ago and the listing is “DEG Getzen Caravelle 3/4 BBb tuba”. Maybe someone who knows more than me would post it? If you look at the pictures, it seems like the “brush” marks are fairly prominent. I don’t know how it was done but it sure looks like machine work as opposed to meticulous hand work.

DonO. wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 9:04 am I don’t know how to post the link to the picture but the tuba is listed on the Facebook group “Euphoniums and tubas for sale and wanted”. It was posted 2 days ago and the listing is “DEG Getzen Caravelle 3/4 BBb tuba”. Maybe someone who knows more than me would post it? If you look at the pictures, it seems like the “brush” marks are fairly prominent. I don’t know how it was done but it sure looks like machine work as opposed to meticulous hand work.

I have to admit I'm going off on "aircraft remover" and wondering how I can run with it.

arpthark wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 9:34 am

DonO. wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 9:04 am I don’t know how to post the link to the picture but the tuba is listed on the Facebook group “Euphoniums and tubas for sale and wanted”. It was posted 2 days ago and the listing is “DEG Getzen Caravelle 3/4 BBb tuba”. Maybe someone who knows more than me would post it? If you look at the pictures, it seems like the “brush” marks are fairly prominent. I don’t know how it was done but it sure looks like machine work as opposed to meticulous hand work.

Very pretty! Is the outside of the bell similarly pretty?

What are they asking for it?

Mary Ann wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 10:15 am I have to admit I'm going off on "aircraft remover" and wondering how I can run with it.

Once the aircraft has been removed, it's much easier to run without it.

@bort2.0 I think it's listed for $1,250. The entire instrument looks like that, yes.

To me that job just looks like Scotchbrite. But it is neat.

Dan Schultz was the first person I recall doing the scotchbrite thing, although he may just have been the first person I heard doing it. I think if you do it well, it can look almost as good as the old satin-finish Conn and King horns. I did play a silver satin-finish Conn 25J for a while, and while I wasn't crazy about the horn, I did think it looked handsome.

I did a combination of glass bead blast, brushed, and buffed finishes on a silver tuba, and I found that Scotchbrite (even the most coarse) wasn't coarse enough...it looked to me as if (unless lacquered over...and no: because this instrument was to be silver plated) it would polish smooth over time (simply from handling), so I stepped up to some c. 300 grit sandpaper, and found that to be much better and stood out much better.

"Buffing the $h!t out of" an instrument can easily involve more removal of material than glass beat blasting or single-pass sanding (as a finish).

Dumb question:

Satin or brushed silver is done after silver plating, right? It's not an underlying finish on the brass?

arpthark wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:56 pm Dumb question:

Satin or brushed silver is done after silver plating, right? It's not an underlying finish on the brass?

Any finish is done prior to plating.

Unless someone requests more, typical plating is only about .0004" thick (other than the geometric/electrical/polar ends of an object, which are going to attract a bit more).