| sloppy soldering
When I worked at York Band Instrument Co./Grand Rapids Band Instrument Co. We knew that less solder was used on horns for the lacquer room than those to be plated. This was NOT a case of sloppy soldering on the plated horns, but, that the plated horns were put together more solidly in the assembly rooms. Yes, the plating did cover a minor bit of solder at the joints, but, the spray coated horns had a much lesser amount of solder than those we plated. In some cases this meant that the solder joints were a good bit weaker. All of the horns to be lacquered had to be pressure tested before leaving the assembly rooms to prove the airtight connections at the joints. Not so the horns going to the plating tanks. Our salesmen pushed plated instruments to school systems for that reason, due to the harsh treatment that experience had taught that all school horns got. Another reason was that the plated horns could be polished by the students, using whiting and alcohol, whereas, the lacquered horns could only be wiped down with a rag, which only removed greasy fingerprints,( maybe). Another reason for plating of school horns was that they ALL got dents and wrinkles from harsh treatment. A plated horn did not show these repairs as vividly as the cracked lacquer on repairs of sprayed horns. Can you imagine the horrible looks of a lacquered sousaphone,euphonium,trombone, or alto horn bell after it had been dropped a few times and then straightened. The silver ones came back to very close to original appearance.
I have a large collection of brass instruments, The best looking vintage horns that I have are all silver plated. The majority of the lacquered brass look shoddy because of peeled and flaked lacquer.
OLDLOU>> |