Remember when butchers wore a blue and white striped apron?
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@J-Jericho said in Remember when butchers wore a blue and white striped apron?:
...Perhaps Dr. GO would care to comment, considering the finish on his Ambassador.
Yes, I did have my Ambassador beaded and I will give you a before and after comparison of the sound. But I must first give a description as to the condition before and after beading of this horn as well, as the sound was definitely positively influenced after this modification.
My Ambassador was given as a "hand me down" to my brother in 1973 when I went off to college and he was 4 years behind me, beginning high school with marching band ahead. My brother was not kind to that horn, and when I got it back from him many decades latter around 2005, it was a mess. The bell was severely bent (and angled to the right), several tuning slides were dented in, but it was still playable but sounded "thin".
I decided to give Tom Green this horn as a challenge, mostly for repair, and also to attach a third valve ring. When he got the horn, he asked me about the finish and I saw his website and loved his gold beading work, so I requested the beaded finish. When I got the horn back, it was first of all stunningly beautiful, but its sound... its sound... It was a rebirth. Rich, dark and full. Now was it the beading? Was it the repair of the bell (bell taper is so important to a horn;s sound), or was it a new bracing attachment of the third valve ring? Not sure, but whatever it was that Tom did to this horn resulted in nothing less then a magical sound. So I am sold on gold beading, and Tom Green's repairs!
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I've got a King Master Cornet that is not bead blasted and it is very much configured like the King Super 20 that is. I like the Master a bit better but with as little talent as I have I wouldn't offer that as an educated opinion as to not bead blasting over bead blasting. My general feeling about the bead blasting is that it works as good as lacquer in preventing tarnish, doesn't hurt anything noticeably and is a novelty that gives the horn a custom look, but other than that, I wouldn't spend any money on it. Actually .....I like the dark aged lacquer on the Master better!
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Chemical or ultrasonic cleaning, or even just a good wash can make a noticeable difference. So it'd be difficult to make an objective judgement on the effect of bead blasting given that it would be rare to blast without first cleaning, fixing and perhaps modifying a horn.
IMHO, if you like the look, just get it done. -
Responding to Pixley's post about satin finish used by Conn. Conn wasn't the only one that did the Silver two tone thing. Grand Rapids Band Instruments did the same thing to some of their more deluxe horns...as I'm sure others did as well. The one pictured is one of those really above average playing horns that time forgot....with or without the silver trick.
