[ChuBerry47]

I was looking on saxpics and I found this Bari, but I had a hunch that it might be replated. What do you guys think?

http://www.saxpics.com/cpg143/thumbnails.php?album=719

 

[Seasax]

replated, or at least the keys are, there is even a thin layer of plating over the pearls by the looks of it

 

[ChuBerry47]

That is what I was wondering about. But it is also a Transitional, and I know them very well. It has the floral engraving, but they did not come with silver plated bells. So that is making me wonder as well. The silver on the inside of the bell is not faded gold that has worn off to reveal silver, at least not by the looks of it.

 

[Seasax]

well, if it was just faded gold wash and a bad photo, wouldn't the plating on the keys at least be slightly faded as well then?

 

[ChuBerry47]

True, True. Maybe they just replated the keys.

 

[Seasax]

the silverplate looks more modernly/recently sandblasted, less like the original Conn satin plating

i think the whole thing was done

 

[ChuBerry47]

They did A better job than others that I have seen, except for the pearls. I would not mind owning it one bit. It kind of makes me want to get the keys on my tenor gold plated.

 

[bruce bailey]

Replated.

 

[Doc Frazier]

Replated. You can't plate over the pearls. That would only happen if the keys were gold lacquered. It's hard to tell from the angle of the pics.

HIS,
Doc

www.JandJWoodwinds.com
1-866-996-6394

 

[Chu-Jerry]

Not necessarily replated.
I've reconditioned the finish on many old tarnished original satin-finish silver plated horns to new-looking appearance. This of course presumes that the original plating was intact.
Here's one example (original plate):
http://www.gomodelrc.com/saxophone/buescher/TrueTone/alto246xxx/engraving-01.jpg

The bell may not have been originally gold-wash inside. I've seen some that were not. But even if it was, the gold-wash is so thin that it's easily buffed off leaving just the silver.

That said, old bari's like that usually don't survive in that dent-free condition.

I suspect that the keys are re-lacquered with a gold tinted lacquer, not gold plated.

 

[Doc Frazier]

Chu-Jerry,

Agreed. I do the same here quite a bit. You and I use the same procedures to acquire this. But as I said, it is hard to tell from the pics about the gold. If you or I had it in hand, we could tell the difference in the satin and the gold!

 

[Chu-Jerry]

The reason I think the keys are lacquered is that the pearls are amber tinted. When I relacquer using tinted lacquer the pearls look exactly like that, except that I don't leave them that way. I strip this excess lacquer overspray from the pearls themselves after it dries.

The keywork may in fact be gold plated too, but it seems strange that one would gold plate and then lacquer over the top of it.