TromboneChat

I have a trombone that I stripped the lacquer from. While I'm fine with polishing it every once in a while, it doesn't last more then a few days between polishing before it stops looking decent so I've been trying to figure out how to wax it to protect it. I've tried turtle wax after seeing it in a few other posts, but it really doesn't seem to do very much- it still starts to tarnish wherever I touch it and any condensation on the bell just soaks right in. What am I doing wrong here? I think I'm using the wax right, but I'm not sure I even bought the right wax to begin with now.

I polish my stripped horns with Flitz. Lasts a couple of weeks and leaves behind a thin coating that deters tarnish.

https://www.amazon.com/Flitz-Plastic-Fi ... 7525354483

I worked in the musical instrument shop of The Smithsonian Institution for a couple of years. They used a particular type of wax to preserve the finish on brass instruments because they were played with some regularity. Check with the Musical Instrument Division. I'm sure they'd be willing to tell you what the stuff is.

Renaissance Wax works for this sort of thing, though depending on your body chemistry it might be a losing battle at contact points

Im Quite sure: what works for vehicles should work for Instruments too…
Played on an newly Build for 8 montags and protected it with AdBL Synthetic Spray wax.
Worked fine

Renaissance Wax:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Wax

It needs to be applied correctly. They use this to keep armor and swords looking great in museums.

I thought the whole point of stripping lacquer was to achieve the tarnished look. The advice I've seen was to strip it, then put it in a closet for 6 months so the patina can develop without any fingerprints.
Is the wax being discussed just a poor man's relacquer job?

No, just makes the patina develop more slowly, and significantly reduces the immediate fingerprint/waterspot issues

AtomicClock wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2023 10:03 am I thought the whole point of stripping lacquer was to achieve the tarnished look. The advice I've seen was to strip it, then put it in a closet for 6 months so the patina can develop without any fingerprints.
Is the wax being discussed just a poor man's relacquer job?

Myriad of reasons to strip. The bell i currently play was stripped because of was converted to a cut bell. I’ve also heard people say it changes the feel of horn, the natural hand patina looks better or that they just know the lacquer is gonna come off eventually. It can also protect the horn, serving as a barrier to prevent rust or corrosion (citation needed, heard this from another player).

Try NuFinish? (Not really a wax, but it can be amazing stuff). Auto people say it effectively protects bare metal for some time, but I don't recall every using it on bare metal.

NuFinish works very well. I also have a couple of bottles of liquid Blue Poly polyglycoat car wax put away. I’ve been using my open one for 15 years. Looks great and very protective on the horns, and a little bit goes a long way!

Can't wait for the wax vs no wax sound quality fusillades. And whether a counter weight should also be waxed.

Nu-Finish has worked great for me, and as an added benefit it also will work as polish with enough elbow grease.

I've heard of luthiers using Meguires car polish with carnauba
Non-abrasive for sure!!

baileyman wrote: ↑Sat Jan 27, 2024 2:08 pm Can't wait for the wax vs no wax sound quality fusillades. And whether a counter weight should also be waxed.

If a stripped horn were played and there were no one to see it, was it waxed or not?

We used Renaissance wax on a raw brass bell. It has a natural patina when we bought it, and I didn't mind the look - but my wife thought it looked hideous. My son prefers it shiny - it polished up very easily to a bright shine.

It didn't take long for us to realize why people use wax - any little water drop or finger print would show up and you'd have to polish it again to get rid of them.

We put on a couple layers of Renaissance wax (it's very easy to apply, and a little goes a long way) and it's been pretty much maintenance free since then (just wipe off water spots with a microfiber towel every once in a while.)

People are usually very surprised to find out the bell is raw brass because it's so shiny still.