1950s Roth Student Model - how to clean and refurbish

thatme · 2019-06-30 5:29 p.m.

Picked this up at a garage sale today. It’s a Roth student model (no special Reynolds markings or model # or name showing). It’s in great shape, so I’d like to clean it up and then I’ll sell it to a beginning band student when school starts. I tried a bit of copper/brass polish and you can see I was able to remove a lot of the tarnish on the bell around the logo, but it was a lot of work to get this far so I assume there’s a better way to do it. Any suggestions? Pics at the link below.

And any idea what model it is? Serial # is 64xxx so it’s post-1952 from what I can tell.

<LINK_TEXT text="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... 53i8wQpSt1">https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mf9YK6H2rtc7dzgZxZtcZl53i8wQpSt1</LINK_TEXT>

walldaja · by **walldaja** » 2019-06-30 8:33 p.m.

Bad link to pictures.

thatme · by **thatme** » 2019-06-30 8:46 p.m.

<LINK_TEXT text="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... 53i8wQpSt1">https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mf9YK6H2rtc7dzgZxZtcZl53i8wQpSt1</LINK_TEXT>

Sorry, hopefully fixed.

brassmedic · by **brassmedic** » 2019-06-30 11:48 p.m.

Nope. Just upload them directly to your post.

Doug_Elliott · by **Doug_Elliott** » 2019-07-01 1:03 a.m.

I remember when i was in high school, one student with a Roth filled in the dents with Bondo.

It seemed appropriate for that horn.

mrdeacon · by **mrdeacon** » 2019-07-01 3:46 a.m.

[quote="Doug Elliott"]I remember when i was in high school, one student with a Roth filled in the dents with Bondo.

It seemed appropriate for that horn.[/quote]
I can't even imagine what the horn would look like after that!

walldaja · by **walldaja** » 2019-07-01 7:14 a.m.

I'm guessing the discoloration may be under a layer of lacquer and your efforts, though hard, were two pronged. You removed the lacquer and polished the actual brass. Without pictures, that is just a guess.

thatme · by **thatme** » 2019-07-01 8:13 a.m.

Okay, tried that, we’ll see if it works.

thatme · by **thatme** » 2019-07-01 8:14 a.m.

[quote="walldaja"]I'm guessing the discoloration may be under a layer of lacquer and your efforts, though hard, were two pronged. You removed the lacquer and polished the actual brass. Without pictures, that is just a guess.[/quote]

I had a feeling that might be the case.

thatme · by **thatme** » 2019-07-01 8:59 a.m.

[quote="brassmedic"]Nope. Just upload them directly to your post.[/quote]

Didn’t know I could do that, thanks!

Doug_Elliott · by **Doug_Elliott** » 2019-07-01 9:49 a.m.

Maybe somebody painted it that color.

To hide the Bondo.

thatme · by **thatme** » 2019-07-01 11:06 a.m.

[quote="Doug Elliott"]Maybe somebody painted it that color.

To hide the Bondo.[/quote]

I actually considered it was paint but it doesn’t feel that way, and seems to come off with polish.

That being said, my backup plan is to make a sweet lamp. I’m only in this thing $20. :idk:

walldaja · by **walldaja** » 2019-07-01 11:21 a.m.

I was in a brass quintet and the French horn player had a badly corroded horn. His plan was silver spray paint. Of course, a nice thick enamel may make it a stellar lamp.

brassmedic · by **brassmedic** » 2019-07-01 2:36 p.m.

Looks like really bad oxidation to me. Not much you can do except polish it, unless you know someone with an acid tank or ultrasonic tank. The shiny parts obviously still have lacquer on them, so you would need lacquer stripper for those spots. Boiling water might take it off also.

Probably more work than the horn is worth.

mfellows821 · by **mfellows821** » 2019-07-01 3:26 p.m.

Citri Strip from Home depot- gel version will remove the lacquer then Brasso to polish the metal underneath

Every bit as important is making sure the slide is 100% free and smooth with no resistance at all. should go to a good music store shop - there is nothing sadder than a student struggling to learn to play his instrument because it does not work well. After all that, it is still probably only worth $100-200.

thatme · by **thatme** » 2019-07-01 4:00 p.m.

Oh, I realize it isn’t worth much. I started on a $50 horn that my Mom made me buy myself - b/c she thought I would quit it. I cashed in a $50 savings bond that my grandparents gave me at birth, bought a horn. I was just going to clean it up and hopefully some kid who doesn’t have any money will enjoy it.

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1950s Roth Student Model - how to clean and refurbish