I would say 40% of the bright silver plate has worn off. Most of it has gone in the normal places there is hand and body contact. The leadpipe is without any silverplating and has been moved and resoldered in another position. The original lyre holder has been replaced and was missing the screw. I did however, find an old spare that fit. As described earlier, the horn is covered with major and minor dents. Also, part of the rim has broken away from the bell. The water key was held on with a hair band and coat hanger wire. The original screw is missing. Also missing are 2 plain silver valve buttons. Two of the valves (the second and 4th) were frozen, but I managed to get them working again. The valve guide on the second valve either broke or wore off and will need repairing. The bell has a small hole in it where it was apparently done to hang the horn from via a piece of brass wire. The bell wire has separated from the bell and it is crinkled down on that side of the horn. There was no case included with the instrument.

Now for the high points.

Suprisingly, ALL of the slides pulled with no major coaxing. All of the valve caps will come off except the 4th valve top one. The valves don't appear to be terribly worn and each slide has good compression when pulled. From my little tests, I have found a leak at a solder poing on the main slide. It should be an easy repair. I am also a little concerned about what appears to be a crack at the 2nd valve elbow just before the slide. The previous owner went through some trouble to convert the instrument to lower pitch.

Some people care for the antiqued "patina" generated by years of no polish. I prefer a shiny horn so I have started cleaning and removing the years of tarnish and discoloration. This is two fold. It looks better and the imperfections are even easier to detect.

This instrument has a 10 1/2 inch bell and measures roughly 22 1/2 inches. It is a little smaller than my 1969 Besson. It will require a large shank mouthpiece or an adapter. It does not appear to be the top of the line model since it's non compensating. It is however, a nice little horn that will be used in place of my newer compensating Besson.

My plan is to clean it up the best I can and try and see if I can get this instrument to play close to standard pitch or even in tune! If the horn plays reasonably well, I will have all the major dents removed so that my daughter or son can use it as a beginner or intermediate horn when they gets a little older.

Phase 1: Cleaning

I have started the process cleaning off the euphonium by removing the hanging wires and the makeshift waterkey setup. The wire was very brittle and broke into pieces before bending. I got the 2 stuck valves free by repeated applications of WD-40 and valve oil. Maybe I was just lucky, but it was quite easy to do. Once I completed those tasks, I got a mouthpiece to see if the horn would play. It sounded VERY stuffy like something was lodged inside. Sure enough, I found a red comb and a broken handled purple mirror lodged in the first bow. There is still something rattling around in the horn, possibly the broken off valve guide from the second valve.

I got a bunch of rags and silver cleaning polish and knocked off most of the tarnish and grime from years of neglect off the euphonium. Some of the discoloration came off on my hands by just holding it. It appeared to be a light film of grease from cooking. Perhaps the euphonium spent it's retired life as decoration in a resturant?

The valves were beginning to deterioriate. On top of the old dirt, grime and oil was a fine line of green corrosion. All of them suffer from this and I will do what I can to remove it without scratching them. The slides all move but are caked with old grease. I will try dishwashing liquid first to see if it will get it off.

I am quite pleased and encouraged with the sound of the horn. It is not as free blowing as my Besson compensating horn, but the pitch does not seem to be weird or wacky. A lot of that is due to the leaks detected and undetected. Given it's age and the amount of dents it has, I will continue with the restoration process.

Phase 2: Chemical Flushing

I am not satisfied with the my best effort on cleaning the euphonium so I am leaving this phase in the hands of a technician. I will shop around and find out what shops in the area do this kind of work. If it is done locally, I will take it to whoever is in charge. If it is to be sent off by the local shop, I will shop around. I would like to talk to the technician myself rather than speak through someone else.

Phase 3: Repairs

I took the slide with the water key attached to it to the local shop to see what it would cost to have a screw installed. The repairman took one look at it and said he would have to make one for $20.00. Hmmm... For a water key screw? I thought that was a bit much for a screw for an item of that nature so I have decided I will rig something else up that will be substantial enough to play on. I am sure he was on the level, but that was just too much for me to invest in.

Phase 4: Dent Removal

The process of dent removal is out of my technical ability so I will leave that in the hands of a repair technician. The goal for this instrument will be to have all the dents removed, the bell repaired both the wire and hole someone put in it, any leaks that may have appeared from the chemical flushing due to weak or worn places in the brass.