Ancient King Trombone

[torobone]

A friend from my day job passed along this trombone to me in as is condition.

20221019_113846.jpg

The serial number dates to about 1917, and I found an ad for this model from 1924.

1924 No 1100 Large.jpg

The bore is likely .461. The mouthpiece fits the same into the receiver or into the tenon. It is TIS (tuning in slide) and has a water key, which not all makers provided.

Naturally, my friend wanted a demonstration, which I provided. The horn plays, but the slide is problematic as it was likely put away in the 1930s or 40s. The culprit is a bottle of slide oil,

20221019_113645.jpg

which is now sticky on the slide. I'll need to clean this up along with the tarnish on the silver plated horn. It is silver plate, as King didn't start sterling silver horns until 1928 or so.

I suspect that this instrument was played by a serious trombonist for 20+ years based on the mouthpiece, a Vincent Bach Corp. New York 6, and the bottle of slide oil. I'll start another thread for the mouthpiece.

Any information suggestions on restoration or the horn itself are welcome.
Thanks

[Macbone1]

Flitz polish. Simichrome if you can't find Flitz. Both very effective but won't even scratch lacquer (if any -I know yours has none). That's a lot of tarnish so gather up LOTS of soft rags.

[elmsandr]

Flitz polish. Simichrome if you can't find Flitz. Both very effective but won't even scratch lacquer (if any -I know yours has none). That's a lot of tarnish so gather up LOTS of soft rags.

Nah, use chemistry. Baking soda and aluminum foil. Google if you need help.

Elbow grease is for the young,
Andy

[Doug Elliott]

That method has the advantage that it doesn't remove any silver, it simply pulls the sulfur off and deposits it on the aluminum foil.

[torobone]

Thanks, I'll try the aluminum foil and baking soda.

The advice I've been give for the sticky on the side is to use a lighter fluid based cleaner like Goo-gone. After the cleaning, I'll been able to determine if repairs are needed.