King 3B Custom Refinish

Here at Fix This! Musical Instrument Repair, we often get calls about refinishing instruments. This is generally very labor intensive, and therefore an expensive job to do. The amount of work is directly related to the condition of the instrument. We have the capability of buffing and polishing instruments, but lacquering is something that very few shops have the ability to do, and do well. We do not have an in-house lacquering facility. ­­­

A regular customer of ours brought in an older King 3B. After much discussion about options for refinishing with our Brass Technician, a brushed finish was chosen as the customer was interested in a custom finish for his Jazz horn.

As with all projects, this one started with an ultrasonic cleaning.

Once the horn was clean, dent work was performed as the bell was in need of attention. After dent work, the instrument’s remaining lacquer was stripped to raw brass.

Here’s where the fun begins. Our brass technician used a special abrasive wheel to apply the brushed finish to all parts of the trombone.

This operation was done evenly all over the bell section, tuning slide section, and hand slide.

Our customer was very pleased with the resulting finish.