New-old horn

[Lankythedanky]

I've just got in the mail my new small bore jazz horn. It's a Yamaha ysl-653, and she's a little rough but I love her regardless. Plays great aside from a few pain points. There's some dent work to be done on the tuning slide, but I've got a guy for that. My main issues are lacquer related. The slide works great in 1st-5th 1/2 ish but there's some wear on the inner slide where it's no longer silver. It's also lost most of its lacquer the the touch spots with some uniform wear everywhere else, as well as what I make out to be pitting in a few areas. I've toyed with the idea of removing the lacquer entirely but I'm not sure. My main goal with this horn is playability and longevity, with aesthetics taking a backseat. The inner slide bothers me more than anything else, but for all I know that could be trivial. What do you guys think?

[Matt K]

Yamaha probably has a replacement inner for not a bad price. Id do that for sure unless your tech thinks they can get it working in all 7 positions.

I like raw brass on vintage horns too. I typically leave it on the spots that touch (cork barrels, lower slide, neck pipe) and the part of the bell that faces the audience (moisture drips out of it and leaves an unappealing patina in that spot), but strip everywhere else unless I get something in perfect condition. It gives it a nice patina on the exterior surfaces.