King Orange Lacquer removal

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-06-05 8:28 p.m.

I have 2 '70s King 3B/Fs and a King 607... I have a bit of an addiction. In any case, that gives me some wiggle room to mess with them. I recently bought some EZ Off Heavy Duty and some Hope's brass polish. Here's the results on my beater 3B/F (ok, all 3 are beaters. This is the most beater-y):

Some spots of lacquer took some serious elbow grease to remove, some came off right away.

SlideCrook · by **SlideCrook** » 2022-06-05 9:29 p.m.

Did you only do the bell flare?

harrisonreed · by **harrisonreed** » 2022-06-05 9:30 p.m.

Looking good! I've been meaning to take the lacquer off the outside of my SS bell but the shop I asked here wouldn't do it.

Did it change how it plays?

jorymil · by **jorymil** » 2022-06-05 10:04 p.m.

Glad you did it outside! That stuff is _foul_. Did you notice any difference between scratches and smooth areas? That's one of the things that surprised me about de-lacquering--the contrast between the two is definitely apparent.

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-06-05 10:59 p.m.

[quote="SlideCrook"]Did you only do the bell flare?[/quote]

Yes, only the bell for now.

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-06-05 11:01 p.m.

[quote="jorymil"]Glad you did it outside! That stuff is _foul_. Did you notice any difference between scratches and smooth areas? That's one of the things that surprised me about de-lacquering--the contrast between the two is definitely apparent.[/quote]

Yes, there's a couple spots on the stem of the bell that are not as shiny, and won't be coaxed to shininess.

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-06-05 11:01 p.m.

[quote="harrisonreed"]

Did it change how it plays?[/quote]

I'll tell you when I play it next! Today was a bit of a slow day and I'm focusing on large tenor.

jorymil · by **jorymil** » 2022-06-05 11:48 p.m.

[quote="harrisonreed"]Looking good! I've been meaning to take the lacquer off the outside of my SS bell but the shop I asked here wouldn't do it.

Did it change how it plays?[/quote]
Harrison, are you hoping for a brighter sound out of your 3bss? Faster response? Just to get rid of patchy lacquer that hasn't aged well? I had an early 70s 1403sf that just instantly gave me a nicer tone; I went to a brass horn for more color and lighter weight.

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-06-06 7:57 p.m.

King 607 today- wow. Lots of elbow grease on this one, at least an hour of polishing. This time I used EZ Off, then boiling water to strip the lacquer. Very quick and easy in that regard.

pompatus · by **pompatus** » 2022-06-06 8:24 p.m.

Those look great, Aidan. Do you plan to just let them develop a patina?

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-06-06 8:30 p.m.

[quote="pompatus"]Those look great, Aidan. Do you plan to just let them develop a patina?[/quote]

That's the plan! Not going to relacquer or do anything fancy, just play 'em and they'll turn out however they do. For now they look great!

harrisonreed · by **harrisonreed** » 2022-06-09 7:46 a.m.

[quote="Burgerbob"]<QUOTE author="harrisonreed" post_id="180195" time="1654479033" user_id="3642">

Did it change how it plays?[/quote]

I'll tell you when I play it next! Today was a bit of a slow day and I'm focusing on large tenor.
</QUOTE>

:hi: :hi:

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-06-09 5:11 p.m.

[quote="harrisonreed"]

:hi: :hi:[/quote]

Dunno... played exactly 1 Cimera on the 607, felt good! Still don't have time for the small horns. Lots of time coming up though.

Dsbones · by **Dsbones** » 2022-08-16 2:02 a.m.

[quote="Burgerbob"]I have 2 '70s King 3B/Fs and a King 607... I have a bit of an addiction. In any case, that gives me some wiggle room to mess with them. I recently bought some EZ Off Heavy Duty and some Hope's brass polish. Here's the results on my beater 3B/F (ok, all 3 are beaters. This is the most beater-y):

Some spots of lacquer took some serious elbow grease to remove, some came off right away.[/quote]

May I ask What Ez Off is please?

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-08-16 2:20 a.m.

[quote="Dsbones"]<QUOTE author="Burgerbob" post_id="180190" time="1654475300" user_id="3131">
I have 2 '70s King 3B/Fs and a King 607... I have a bit of an addiction. In any case, that gives me some wiggle room to mess with them. I recently bought some EZ Off Heavy Duty and some Hope's brass polish. Here's the results on my beater 3B/F (ok, all 3 are beaters. This is the most beater-y):

Some spots of lacquer took some serious elbow grease to remove, some came off right away.[/quote]

May I ask What Ez Off is please?
</QUOTE>

An oven cleaner. I use the heavy duty strength

Dsbones · by **Dsbones** » 2022-08-16 8:12 a.m.

[quote="Burgerbob"]<QUOTE author="Dsbones" post_id="186444" time="1660629777" user_id="7904">

May I ask What Ez Off is please?[/quote]

An oven cleaner. I use the heavy duty strength
</QUOTE>

<LINK_TEXT text="https://www.amazon.com.au/Easy-Off-Bam- ... 7717&psc=1">https://www.amazon.com.au/Easy-Off-Bam-Cleaner-Removes/dp/B0768JNKRR/ref=asc_df_B0768JNKRR/?tag=googleshopmob-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=463523000851&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16012459704252560426&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9068915&hvtargid=pla-1017056177717&psc=1</LINK_TEXT>

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-08-16 10:02 a.m.

That's the one! Hopefully the same formula internationally

Dsbones · by **Dsbones** » 2022-08-17 1:51 a.m.

[quote="Burgerbob"]That's the one! Hopefully the same formula internationally[/quote]

Yep. We have the same stuff here in Oz. That king lacquer is a complete pain in the butt when resoldered school instruments hey. Must admit I’ve never thought of trying oven cleaner, only used it once before in an oven<EMOJI seq="1f602" tseq="1f602">😂</EMOJI><EMOJI seq="1f602" tseq="1f602">😂</EMOJI>. Cheers mate!!<EMOJI seq="1f44d" tseq="1f44d">👍</EMOJI>

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-08-17 2:05 a.m.

[quote="Dsbones"]<QUOTE author="Burgerbob" post_id="186469" time="1660658541" user_id="3131">
That's the one! Hopefully the same formula internationally[/quote]

Yep. We have the same stuff here in Oz. That king lacquer is a complete pain in the butt when resoldered school instruments hey. Must admit I’ve never thought of trying oven cleaner, only used it once before in an oven<EMOJI seq="1f602" tseq="1f602">😂</EMOJI><EMOJI seq="1f602" tseq="1f602">😂</EMOJI>. Cheers mate!!<EMOJI seq="1f44d" tseq="1f44d">👍</EMOJI>
</QUOTE>

Best of luck!!

spencercarran · by **spencercarran** » 2022-08-22 4:01 p.m.

I tried a similar procedure on my old Holton bass, with strangely patchy results. May take a few rounds of EZ Off, I guess. Was sorta expecting the Holton lacquer to slough off more easily than the orange King stuff.

tbonesullivan · by **tbonesullivan** » 2022-08-22 4:14 p.m.

I've heard that putting on Citristrip and putting the horn inside a box in the sun can conquer the King Lacquer, and is less hazardous than EZ Off.

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-08-22 4:29 p.m.

[quote="spencercarran"]I tried a similar procedure on my old Holton bass, with strangely patchy results. May take a few rounds of EZ Off, I guess. Was sorta expecting the Holton lacquer to slough off more easily than the orange King stuff.[/quote]

Getting it off the Kings took many, many sprays and more than an hour. Some spots took probably 5 or 6 applications.

spencercarran · by **spencercarran** » 2022-08-22 6:15 p.m.

[quote="Burgerbob"]<QUOTE author="spencercarran" post_id="186961" time="1661198498" user_id="10390">
I tried a similar procedure on my old Holton bass, with strangely patchy results. May take a few rounds of EZ Off, I guess. Was sorta expecting the Holton lacquer to slough off more easily than the orange King stuff.[/quote]

Getting it off the Kings took many, many sprays and more than an hour. Some spots took probably 5 or 6 applications.
</QUOTE>

Good to know. I've got it mostly cleared from the front of the bell and like the results there, so will probably go back and strip off the rest too. (Almost definitely will; the half-lacquered look is weird)

CalgaryTbone · by **CalgaryTbone** » 2022-08-22 11:37 p.m.

I used some stuff called Polystripa (or something very close to that). You definitely want to either use it in the open, or walk away and let it do it's work. It did work on King lacquer (and Conn and Bach) but the trick was to leave it on for a while (check the directions). It needs a good 1/2 hour or more of sitting on the horn to work.

Jim Scott

bigbandbone · by **bigbandbone** » 2022-08-23 5:04 p.m.

When I was running the brass repair department at Heid’s Music in Appleton WI I had a hot lye tank to strip King horns. Worked great, but very old school.

spencercarran · by **spencercarran** » 2022-08-26 8:44 p.m.

It turns out that, like ogres, the Holton lacquer has layers. Got most of it off and gonna call it good enough for now

ithinknot · by **ithinknot** » 2022-12-08 4:43 p.m.

[quote="Burgerbob"]EZ Off Heavy Duty[/quote]

Thanks for the tip. Just did a very orange non-loopy Concert bell (mid-to-late 70s). Applied heavily, ran away for a half hr or so, nearly all came off in the first round. A couple of spots took a second application, not because of lacquer condition (one was pristine inner bell, the other flaky stem) but likely just early run-off based on the position I left it sitting. That's it - doing it somewhere heated to the mid-80s probably helped.

(Yeah, I did this indoors because winter - but spraying without inhaling, and then getting straight outta there. It's nastay)

Burgerbob · by **Burgerbob** » 2022-12-08 7:11 p.m.

Awesome! I need to polish mine again, getting a bit nasty.

heinamj · by **heinamj** » 2022-12-08 7:56 p.m.

[quote="Burgerbob"]Awesome! I need to polish mine again, getting a bit nasty.[/quote]

If you rub a silicone cloth over the raw brass after you polish it I've heard it slows the progress of the patina.

First time I did it about 7 years ago I used a car wax and that held up pretty good too.

BGuttman · by **BGuttman** » 2022-12-08 8:18 p.m.

[quote="heinamj"]<QUOTE author="Burgerbob" post_id="195668" time="1670544686" user_id="3131">
Awesome! I need to polish mine again, getting a bit nasty.[/quote]

If you rub a silicone cloth over the raw brass after you polish it I've heard it slows the progress of the patina.

First time I did it about 7 years ago I used a car wax and that held up pretty good too.
</QUOTE>

I used some wadding polish called Nevr-Dull. It's been around under different names for a very long time (I inherited some called "Maserati" from my father-in-law dating back to the 1940s). My friend polished up an old tuba (pre lacquer) with the stuff and it looked beautiful for a couple of years.

ithinknot · by **ithinknot** » 2022-12-08 8:31 p.m.

Renaissance Wax works for that, in as much as anything does.

I find that the main thing with unlacquered bells is to keep them wiped down and dry for the first few months. Once there's a certain level of patina on it, it ages much more gracefully. But if you stick a big greasy thumb print and some water drops on it on day 1, it's going to look like that forever. If you have a torch with a big low-temp flame, you can frisk the whole surface to accelerate past the Very Yellow and Very Shiny stage - not getting anything meaningfully hot, just letting some oxygen bump into the surface with increased enthusiasm.

BoNeLife · by **BoNeLife** » 2023-01-31 12:11 a.m.

Late Response, the EPA banned all the goos paint stripper years ago, but you can still buy the Chemical from certain companies. Methylene Chloride will melt that ugly orange lacquer off in minutes.

BGuttman · by **BGuttman** » 2023-01-31 2:58 a.m.

[quote="BoNeLife"]Late Response, the EPA banned all the goos paint stripper years ago, but you can still buy the Chemical from certain companies. Methylene Chloride will melt that ugly orange lacquer off in minutes.[/quote]
Actually, I've tried to strip epoxies with methylene chloride for years with very mixed results. And a warning to do-it-yourselfers: methylene chloride evaporates so quickly it won't make a difference unless you put it a\in a closed container and leave it sealed. To boot, methylene chloride is a registered carcinogen.

dbwhitaker · by **dbwhitaker** » 2025-09-06 1:30 p.m.

Edit: I moved my question to another thread.

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King Orange Lacquer removal