Posted by Jay Bertolet on March 01, 2004 at 08:39:00:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Thoughts on raw brass posted by disagreeing on March 01, 2004 at 00:55:08:
I respect your opinion stated but you have to admit that your hypothetical is comparing apples and oranges. The original statements paraphrased to "a stripped horn is devalued" has nothing to do with purchasing two identical instruments except that one is lacquered and one isn't. That isn't the debate. Any idiot would buy the lacquered horn in your example because they aren't requiring immediate work. Not too many folks buy a horn knowing that the lacquer is going to be damaged right away by imminent repairs.
Respectfully, I disagree with you and agree with Wade. A good playing horn plays that way, stripped lacquer or not. How the horn plays is what should matter, not what it looks like. Unless your gig requires a shiny, new looking instrument. No gig that I know of has this requirement. Sadly, there are plenty of stories of band directors that require this of their students but thankfully, even that idiocy is a relatively rare occurance. My personal opinion is that anyone who's buying a horn because of how it looks is completely missing the point.
I own 6 horns. 2 are silver plated, 2 are lacquered, and 2 are stripped. The 2 lacquered horns are that way only because they are relatively new and they haven't required any work yet. You can bet that the first time they visit the shop for any extensive, lacquer damaging work, my wish will be to strip the lacquer. But then I'm maybe a bit strange. Unlike Wade, I don't ever polish my stripped horns. They develop a very nice, very strong patina that protects the horn just as well (if not better) than lacquer. Besides, it's good incentive for me to force myself to play so well that people don't notice the "ugly duckling" horn I'm playing. Nevermind that all my horns play extremely well for me and I feel lucky to have them. Besides, I happen to like the look of stripped brass that has developed that rich brown patina. It has a very pleasing look to my eye.
At some point we are going to have to get past what things look like and focus on the real prize: how they function. Functionality is what allows us to do what we wish to do, not cosmetics. Unless you're a stripper in a bar. Now there's an interesting metaphor.
My opinion for what it's worth...