So I actually did end up going the plasti-dip route and the results went a lot better than I expected.
For a first run I decided to do the bell; my thinking was that a large flat surface would be easiest to start.
I wasn't sure how the stuff would come off if applied inconsistently to other surfaces (if at all), so I had to be extra careful going around the corner here. In addition, it peels off the easiest when you have well-defined edges you're spraying over (like painter's tape), so be sure to have a defined area that you're applying it to instead of just haphazardly spraying wherever it looks cool. Addendum: because of this, I don't know how well the plasti-dip would work on non-smooth surfaces or small spaces, which is why I stopped at the lead pipe.
As you can see in the first pic, I took all the precautions I reasonably could to make sure that it didn't end up anywhere it was supposed to. Since I could only get the trash bag around the horn without the tubing in, I had to remove those and tape them shut as well.
After the first coating. I stood back, took this picture, had the moment of "holy god I just spray painted my $7000 instrument," and had to spend several minutes convincing myself that this was going to come off.
After the fourth? coating.
And this is what it looks like all dried up. Not perfect, but for a first attempt, I'll give myself a high five.
No bleeding over or dripping into the inside of the bell, which is pretty cool.
Not really noticeable from a distance, but the logo is still definitely visible. Also note the drip -- plasti-dip is only meant to be applied to small, even surfaces, and when spraying this on a large curved surface, some smearing is going to inevitable imo.
Comes off very easily. Getting some of the remnants off by hand around the lip of the bell was a bit of a pain, but if worse came to worst I could have just used some warm water and soap.
All around a very cool experiment and I'm glad it worked. I'm interested to see how this stays on long-term as it goes through temp and humidity changes (I only had it on for about a week as a proof of concept), but it /does/ work.
Some notes and tips for future attempts:
- Definitely do this outside. I was constrained by space so I was kind of forced to do it in my practice space, which meant I couldn't spend too long in there or I started inhaling some of the fumes (thankfully the space is fairly large so it wasn't that big of a deal but still).
- Prepare for this to take all day. The can recommends four coatings with an hour to dry between each one, but if I were to do this again, I would make it five or six. It looks fine from a distance but once you get close you can see some imperfections that I think could be covered up with another few coatings.
- Plasti-dip is not meant for surfaces this large, so depending on how much you want to coat at once, be prepared to buy several cans.
- As mentioned before, plasti-dip isn't really meant for surfaces this large or curved, and you will get drip. This could be mitigated by spot-spraying and waiting for it to dry each time but unfortunately I don't have that kind of time or patience.
