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I've got a horn that I bought to be a wall-hanger back in the 1990's, an old Imperial brand (Whaley Royce & Company, Toronto) valve/rotor contra bugle (not really a "baby contra" but not a huge beast either) horn that's been sitting in my shed for about 25 years.

A nearby drum corps alumni group (a corps I competed against many times) is hosting a reunion and putting together an ensemble. My thought is to clean the horn up and play it there (late July).

So far the good:

1) After 25 years of sitting, neither the valve nor the rotor were frozen.
2) It will look "OK"ish from a distance
3) I have a mouthpiece that fits the .55 small shank

The bad:

1) It's got 25 years of "shed grime" on it that's got to come off.
2) The mouthpiece I have that fits is a Yamaha Bobo euphonium model that does nothing for the sound of the horn.
3) The horn doesn't sound very good (I'm afraid it came out of the shop new not sounding very good).
4) Lord above have mercy this thing is HEAVY for what it is.
5) My neck has issues and I'm not sure I can play it... I'll cross that bridge later...

The needs:

1) A better mouthpiece solution. I see Kelley makes a small-shank adapted plastic mouthpiece at a reasonable price. I wonder if anybody here has ideas/thoughts/solutions on this one.
2) The nickel finish had grime that doesn't just wash off with a hose (the dust did, but the grim won't). I assume soap and water with a soft sponge won't hurt the finish? Thoughts?

I'll post pictures later if anybody is interested.

Turns out I jumped the gun on this a bit, the horn sounds absolutely terrible and is very unwieldy (this is an early 60's contra by the company that invented them), off-balance and not fun at all to play.

Change of plans... I'll put clean this up and put it back in the shed (this time covered better). This thread can be safely ignored, sorry about that.

If a mod would just scrap the whole thread that would be appreciated.

I you would like to clean it without too much hard work, get some rubber gloves (the black reusable ones - and you'll find future uses for them) and buy a product (purple container) called SuperClean. Otherwise, go outside when warm (DON'T INHALE, and spray on EasyOff oven cleaner...NOT "lemon-scented - which is weak, NOT a substitute brand (which is weak).

Best wishes re: finding something good for the shindig.
Many schools are going back to sousaphones, have trouble selling their shoulder-mount (3-valve) B-flats, and have them "up on s shelf"...so ask around.