In his spare time, Simon repairs and refurbishes broken, second-hand instruments to give to children who cannot afford them in school. When he told us of the project he had in mind, we were more than happy to help. Simon wanted to colour the trumpets once repaired with a dyed lacquer to give the instruments a change in look and to freshen them up.
Tools:
Method
From our end, this was a very straightforward project to be involved in, as Simon had all of the hard work to do with repairing the broken trumpets. Once he had worked his magic on the trumpets and they were all fixed, we advised him to clean and degrease the surface and then lightly key it with some scotch brite pads.
Once this was all cleaned up, Simon applied masking tape to the parts he did not want to be painted; then, he was ready to paint. With the dyed lacquer, it is preferable to apply it in light coats until you get the desired colour and shade.
TOP TIP: Dyed lacquers need to be applied in layers as the more layers you apply, the deeper and darker the colour will get. Leave this to dry for approximately 45 minutes between coats, dependent on heat and humidity. It is then recommended to leave this to cure overnight.
Finished Results
The end product was astonishing! With just a little bit of elbow grease and lacquer, it completely transformed the finish. I can only hope the recipient of Simon’s amazing work is as pleased as we were. Thank you to our lovely client again for including us on this one, and we look forward to the next project.
