King 5b -doesn't seem to be brass?

[Gteg313]

I just picked up a used king 5b-2105. When I try to polish the scratches they look steel-colored instead of brass?? My 3b certainly is brass. Does anyone know what a king trombone would be made of instead of brass? The scratches don't rust, so the material isn't steel, but I'm courious.

Thanks for the help

[BGuttman]

There are King 5B's that are silver plated (entire horn is silver). There are 5B's that have sterling silver bells (often bear the name Silver Sonic and have a pound sterling mark on the bell stem). The inner slide is chrome plate on nickel-silver (a copper alloy with no silver). Ferrules are also often nickel silver. Outer slide tubes are also nickel silver.

Where are the areas in question on the horn in question?

[Gteg313]

Thanks for the reply. The whole horn is a darker brass-colored than my 3b. The bell and outer slide are a silver/gray metal under the lacquer. They aren't Sterling silver or anything. The assembly with f-attachment is brass when I polish the worn area that rests on your shoulder/neck.

[BGuttman]

For a while King used an orange colored lacquer (that was REALLY hard to strip). This can cause the metal underneath to look darker than the alloy should.

Most 5B's had gold brass bells although newer ones had yellow brass.

It would be quite unusual to have a silver plated bell with brass other parts; normally the horn was silver plated or left as brass. Braces, ferrules, and slide outer tubes were nickel silver.

[Gteg313]

Hmm. The bell and outer slide on the one I bought has that orangy lacquer with what looks like some alloy underneath. The braces and ferrules are nickel. I'll try to send pictures if I can get the color right. Thanks for the help.

[Gteg313]

Here is picture of the bell where the finish was worn off.

bell.jpg

. Any thoughts?

[hyperbolica]

That's just the color of the underlying brass when the orange colored lacquer has been scratched off.

[doctortrombone]

I'm pretty sure that still yellow brass. It's just less yellow than the orange lacquer around it. It only looks silver by comparison.

[Jgittleson]

Yeah thats very much brass

[johnnymack]

I removed the Baked on Epoxy Lacquer from a King 8B once . It took forever. When polished , it had that same SIlver/ Nickel hue to the brass. When it tarnished it took on the same characteristics of yellow brass. I was wondering if it possibly had a higher content of Zinc in the brass alloy.
Around the same time I picked up a 60's 3B that was unlacquered. It was definitely Yellow with no signs of a Silver/Nickel Hue when polished.
The Lacquer removal on the bell helped with the way the bell responded. FWIW