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After dragging my feet and not moving on out-of-town "pretty good" deals, I came across a local exceptional deal.

I've been looking for a vintage (second generation - the pebble finish version, and back when they were ACTUALLY made of very lightweight fiberglass) King sousaphone.

OK...This one was cheap, NOT stolen (I know its provenance), and was in "darn good" condition.

I just finished addressing the minor damage (perhaps viewed as "major" to some...but - you know - I'm a "repair hero" ) to the valve section (yeah...It actually took hours, because I picked over it, and there was actually a pretty bad twist in the 5th branch), and - prior to putting it back together - I just thought I might shoot the (dingy/yellowed pebble finish body and bell exterior only) with a coat of white.

The bell INTERIOR still sports it's original shiny gleaming appearance (and trademark), so - again - I'm just going to shoot the body and bell exterior.

In the past, I've hit (all makes of) these with "appliance white" (glossy)...

...but - looking at this instrument - it doesn't particularly look shiny on the pebble finish.

fwiw, the pebble finish is remarkably well-preserved (not badly scuffed nor worn) but (to be quite redundant, in consideration of how many people seem to read stuff ) the color is a bit yellowed/dingy.

OK...I'm not offering choices of wild colors (I might decide to sell it to a middle school, someday), or any of that jazz, but I'll like opinions on how any of you (who've stopped and taken a good look at these) perceive the o.e.m. pebble finish.

I'm SIMPLY asking if you think I should shoot it with GLOSS white, SATIN white, or FLAT white.

I have to go to the hardware store anyway...One of the 1-1/2" x 1/16" (half-century old) brass-fiberglass connection O-rings is busted, so...

thnx.

I voted in the poll so you got my choice from your options but.... @tylerferris1213 recently did one to look like a satin silver finish, with just a bit of glitter in the paint. I was a for a member of the OSU Alumni Band and it blended in really well with the Conn 20Ks. Looks really sharp. If I ever got a fiberglass horn I would request the same for mine.

By the time I headed to the store, the majority voted satin white, so I bought that.

thnx.

Yeah, I voted satin white. But still prefer metallic paint (silver or titanium) for fiberglass sousas.

catgrowlB wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 4:12 pm Yeah, I voted satin white. But still prefer metallic paint (silver or titanium) for fiberglass sousas.

That would clash with the brass tubing.

Satin White.

It's done...and - even today - there is a slight threat of rain. I drove through sprinkles going to get the paint and the 4th-to-3rd branch O-rings.

I'm going to let it skin over and harden for two or three days before wrestling the valve section back onto the body.

If the pebble finish were on the ceiling of your house I’d recommend removing it.

It seems to work on the Sousa though.

Especially when wet!

i like my horn to look old- primarily brass band & vintage jazz gigs on this horn.
The faux finish is with rust-oleum. The hand-hammered colors. I spay two colors at once and blend with a rag dampened with mineral spirits.
tj

Sweet!

Pebble finish?!?
Is that the bigger brother of sand blasting, the latter being used for satin finish?

...erm, not for me, I guess. I didn´t like golf-ball style motorbike helmets, either

hand-hammered faux finish

more on this later

=============================

yeah...I like cool-lookin' fiberglass sousaphones, but (again) if I eventually decide to sell this to a middle school or small private school, I don't want to have to paint over something else.

DID NOT RE-PAINT

Three Valves wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 4:46 pm

catgrowlB wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 4:12 pm Yeah, I voted satin white. But still prefer metallic paint (silver or titanium) for fiberglass sousas.

That would clash with the brass tubing.

Satin White.

I disagree. If anything, stark white or other non-metallic colors clash worse with the brass valveset tubing.
Metallic colors go with metallic colors.

It has just become customary for makers to use ugly stark white paint against brass because it's been done that way for so long to 'show' its fiberglass. But I see nothing wrong with metallic colors; I like them much better. Glad I painted my Signet sousa in silver and titanium

catgrowlB wrote: ↑Tue Oct 01, 2024 12:30 pm

I disagree. If anything, stark white or other non-metallic colors clash worse with the brass valveset tubing.
Metallic colors go with metallic colors.

It has just become customary for makers to use ugly stark white paint against brass because it's been done that way for so long to 'show' its fiberglass. But I see nothing wrong with metallic colors; I like them much better. Glad I painted my Signet sousa in silver and titanium

I like faux metallic finishes.

I just think if the valves/tubing remains brass, the faux metallic should be brass.

Likewise silver/silver.

Just not mixed.

I would consider the very fine metal fleck metallic brass paint (plus a clear coat) WERE IT THAT I was
- only 40 years old (not likely to be selling it in the next ten years)
- was willing to pay an auto body shop to sand away the pebble finish and PROFESSIONALLY paint it (NOT cheap).
- Yeah..."They're only painted white because etc."...which is the same reason that percussion white veneer is so common.

bloke "No color looks good with a pebble finish, other than black or white, and white is the only thing that a school would potentially buy (later)."

White cars have made a comeback.

Even in places that are not Florida!

Truth be told, any color over fiberglass is a faux finish...Why not (as with the tarnished brass peeps) a natural look?





...and - again, just like the tarnished brass crowd - y'all can put wax on it, to protect it.

Where will this all end?

A return to white shoes?

White belts?

Wide white-wall tires?

Is white the new black?

I had an uncle that always worn shiny white shoes and a white leather belt back in the day…

MiBrassFS wrote: ↑Tue Oct 01, 2024 3:09 pm I had an uncle that always worn shiny white shoes and a white leather belt back in the day…

Uncle Joe...??
Isn't he going to arguing with some young guy, tonight?