Posted by Wade on March 01, 2004 at 17:44:44:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Thoughts on raw brass posted by Mr. Disagreeable on March 01, 2004 at 14:20:35:
I'm not Jay, but I'm chiming in anyway:
In my opinion: Yes; the value is the same. I (as well as many others, to include my brass section colleagues) purchase instruments SOLELY for reasons of playability and care next to naught for how an instrument looks.
I also like the way that my stripped tubas look. I find the patina much more attractive than a shiny, gold-like color. In fact: I hate the way gold and polished brass look. In my eye, the silver spectrum (to include nickel) is so much more attractive - even tarnished nickel (I polish my silver stuff fairly regularly). To me (again, my opinion) gold coloration always reeks of all things cheesy - like the Wheel of Fortune television set - gag . . .
Incidentally, when I purchased my 621 F it needed work requiring the removal of the bell and the bottom bow. Since I did not have adequate time to do all that work at once (as well as a few mods and tweaks) the first thing that I did was to strip the lacquer off. (Sorry, Alex . . . ) Life is much easier when you can do a repair or mod, clean it up and stick the horn in the case without having to buff the affected area (thinning out the sheet metal in the process), properly degrease the area, and then have to sit through two extra hours of applying four coats of Nickolas spray lacquer and watching it dry. thanks, but I will save THAT sort of stuff for our degreasing wand and the lacquering room and do the whole thing at once, and properly.
Anyway, once I have finished playing with it and have settled on the angles/configuration of some things, I MIGHT choose to send it off to be silver plated. But, since I am fairly happy with it as is, I also MIGHT choose to let it get nice and brown. As Jay stated, the patina is an excellent protectant. Ask Rick Denney about all of those dark brown, rusted steel I-beams used in the Houston highway system and why they were installed that way (Hint: the patina is a protective coating of oxidized metal.)
BTW - Should we be concerned about what foreign visitors think about us because the Statue of Liberty is so disgracefully tarnished? Is her value diminished? Maybe we could sell her back to France to pay off our national debt. But we had better remember to buff her up and get her lacquered because her "value" is lower in her current state . . .
Wade "with his unlacquered tongue planted firmly in his unlacquered cheek" Rackley