Gold wash on Silver Sousa bell

[Hank74]

I wanted to ask anyone here if you've had a gold wash applied on a silver Sousa bell, and if so, how much would it cost?

[LargeTuba]

Maybe try calling Anderson's?

[the elephant]

Hank, it is no longer a thing because it is expensive and it rubs off very easily. A few polishings and you have bare silver peeking through the gold. As advised in the post above this one, Anderson Silver Plating is a good place to hire out.

If you decide to pull the trigger and have it done, take "before" and "after" photos and post them so we can take a look at the difference. You could also post a write-up telling us what Anderson had to do to prepare bell and then apply the wash.

Best of luck!

[bloke]

It has become quite expensive to do this.
When the silver itself has been badly worn down, I’ve often seen silver bells - which of had the silver buffed off of the interior - and then the brass lacquered, for a faux gold appearance.
The source mentioned in previous posts is the correct one, if you decide to follow through with genuine gold.

[Mithosphere]

Yamaha special gold lacquer is really close to gold wash. That's what Harv did on my old 46K Grand Jumbo sousaphone

[bloke]

Nikolas has a gold tint that can be added to their clear (which would be mixed and sprayed out of a gun), as well as rattle cans with gold tint in them.
I do not recommend rattle cans for a surface as large as the inside of a sousaphone bell, but knock yourself out.