Posted by Wade on February 29, 2004 at 12:58:16:
In Reply to: Re: Thoughts on raw brass posted by the change on February 29, 2004 at 09:41:40:
This is not totally true. When stating an opinion, please tell us that it is merely that. What you wrote is not fact, yet you act as though it is.
Please quote me the scientific studies that either prove or disprove your opinion.
And regarding resale value: DEVALUES??? Who told you that? That is absurd. I have never had a problem reselling stripped instruments at the price I paid or for even more in some cases. If a tuba is a good player, it is a good player. Some people think that it is ugly and would not buy an unlacquered tuba. Then, somehow, their ego tells them that no on else could possibly want them either. Therefore, the value must have somehow been injured by stripping off that plastic coating. Or maybe one or two people snubbed their noses at an unlacquered tuba that this person was trying to sell. Therefore, all persons must think that the tuba is worth less than it would have been had it been lacquered. However, it might be that the tuba was a bowser. It might be that those people were more concerned with looks than others. Who knows?
To state that unlacquered tubas universally carry a stigma that lowers the resale value is rubbish.
Someone you respect as some sort of authority on this subject is giving you uninformed, personal opinion and you are accepting it as gospel. The fact is that studies have turned in conflicting results over the years. Some players seem to benefit from a stripped tuba, while some seem less sensitive to the change. And some see no change whatsoever. I am in the last category. But my tubas are stripped because (in MY opinion) NOTHING looks worse than a lacquered horn that has been disassembled several times and not stripped, buffed and relacquered. I think that spot lacquering looks bad even when done by a real repair stud, since it still a visible difference. Since I am always messing with my tubas in the shop, I just got tired of fooling with the darn lacquer and got rid of it.
And now I have to polish them. And I think that that sucks. And that IS fact. But I like them better stripped aside from that polishing business (which I do only about twice each year). And my Alexander is nearing fifty years old and shows no "signs of wear" due to the lack of a "protective" finish. In fact, most old Alexes are unlacquered, as they came from the factory that way.
Cheers!
Wade