[TPIN] Re: lacquer striping

[Allegro69]

>
> Message: 14
> Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 08:20:55 -0500
> From: Alan Remick <a_remick at comcast.net>
> Subject: [TPIN] Re: lacquer striping
> To: TPIN <tpin at tpin.okcu.edu>
> Message-ID: <45AA2E37.9020904 at comcast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> My mechanic has a dip, I believe its methylethylketone (MEK), that he
> just dips the whole thing into.
>
> Not wanting to go out and purchase a whole vat of toxic material, I've
> had good luck with lacquer remover from ACE, spraying it and letting it
> sit for about 30 min. (after mechanically stripping it of all other
> parts), and running it through the dishwasher. YMMV
>
> I like the polished bare brass, but its a bear to keep that way (unless
> you only have one horn!).  I have an Ambassador cornet going the
> tarnished way that I'm getting used to, but I keep my Studio in a state
> of somewhat polished ans will probably just go ahead and go with a
> re-lacquer at some point...
>
Why bother doing it as a DIY project? It looks like a filthy job that a well
appointed restore shop could do more efficiently for fairly cheap money. I
looked up the price at Osmun's for stripping a lacquer trumpet at $250. This
includes an internal chem clean job as part of the price. It saves a lot of
wear and tear on the person doing it at home, plus even more wear and tear
one's wife is going to impart after you run it thru HER dishwasher. It's one
thing to strip and polish the horn at home if that's what a person wants to
do, but very careful consideration should be made about re-lacquering the
horn. Despite what kind of lacquer one uses, there are environmental issues
(dust and such) and meteorological issues (relative humidity) that could
mean the difference between success and failure. This surely will pose a
problem if doing this in a home workshop / garage environment. I'd venture a
guess that a modern shop will have special sealed off work areas that will
suffice much better. By not considering humidity, re-lacquering could
produce disastrous looking results as the lacquer cures. Years ago when I
took a horn in to Bill Toddle in Boston for a re-lacquer job, it was during
the summer months. He told me that he couldn't guarantee a turnaround time
being that he would not re-lacquer if the humidity on that day was over a
certain percentage since the lacquer would dull down to a whitish hue.
Better to let the pros with the proper equipment, (including professional
spraying implements rather than the use of at home lacquer in aerosol cans)
do it. If anything was to go wrong, then they'd be the ones that would have
to correct it.