Coins on paddles?

[Kctuba]

Before I think about it, are there any issues with certain coins I need to know about before trying to put them on my paddles? Like the inability to solder certain types of metals?

[arpthark]

The only thing I ran into when finding coins to solder to my Alexander were those made of aluminum. That won’t work. I think pretty much everything else, as far as commonly available coins, is a nickel/copper alloy of some sort which should work fine.

I ended up not going through with it because I wanted something era-appropriate (1930s) and from the origin country (Germany). History buffs may realize the problem that arose regarding the imagery on the coins.

[gocsick]

I have silver half dollars on mine.. 1964 Kennedy.. which is the only year that they were made 90% silver.. Head and tails of Lincoln half dollars then a waking Liberty for 4th.

I wanted to use the old West German 2 Mark coins because they were the right size and match the make of the instrument... but I couldn't find any for relatively cheap.. doing want to spend $15 pop... I have plenty of US silver stashed away... used to supplement the tooth fairy leavings with it.. and for baby showers and baby gifts I usually give a piggy bank with some silver coins in it to get them started.

Only advice is to tin the coins first.. and make sure there isn't any lacquer on the paddles.

[the elephant]

I used 1989 Swiss 2 Franc coins on my Kurath's 5th and 6th levers. These coins are the same nickel silver alloy as the stuff used on musical instruments. They were not added to the paddles, but ARE the paddles, so they were brazed directly to the two nickel silver lever arms. I found out the metal content from a Wikipedia article, and confirmed it via a coin collector website once I zeroed in the the exact coins I thought I wanted. (I picked three, and after researching, ended up with these.)

[bloke]

I have soldered coins on top of paddles to prevent my fingers from wearing the paddles down over the years.

I pick a coin that has the same size as the paddle teardrop and an attractive side. Prior to soldering them in place, I thin them down to avoid adding much weight. To be a little more elegant, you could take the paddles to a machine shop and have the paddles themselves circularly cut in to accept the thinned down coins, but -:just in case the next owner of the instrument wouldn't like that - you might just avoid that step..

[Mary Ann]

Not going for looks but to counteract the slipperiness, I put patches of this on my NStar paddles, since the thumb ring is out of reach and was removed.
https://www.acehardware.com/departments ... ns/1009356

[Three Valves]

Or pistons….

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP ... Zmc181QUln

[AnthonyK-tuba]

I ended up not going through with it because I wanted something era-appropriate (1930s) and from the origin country (Germany). History buffs may realize the problem that arose regarding the imagery on the coins.
[/quote]

Feels like the punchline of a Norm Macdonald joke lol

[Mark]

Vienna Philharmonic 1 oz. gold coins would look great. You could do four valve paddles for around $15,000.

[bloke]

When I built my cimbasso, I needed something to cover up the screws on each side of the bell section balancer.

(Actually, the bell section doesn't need a balancer at all, but I put one on there just for fun.) Somewhere online, I found some fake silver plated Peace dollars and glued those in place to cover up the screws.

[Three Valves]

I ended up not going through with it because I wanted something era-appropriate (1930s) and from the origin country (Germany). History buffs may realize the problem that arose regarding the imagery on the coins.

Feels like the punchline of a Norm Macdonald joke lol


[/quote]

Tell them the iconography stands for Good Luck Ass Hole!

[gnimoyw]

Or pistons….

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP ... Zmc181QUln

How are the coins attached? I have a VMI piston horn and the little plastic mother-of-pearl fell out of the second valve last night. Before trying to super glue it back in, I was thinking about replacing it with a cool coin (and then doing the same on the other pistons). It appears to be exactly the same size as a US nickel, but not sure if that's what I would use.

[Three Valves]

Or pistons….

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP ... Zmc181QUln

How are the coins attached? I have a VMI piston horn and the little plastic mother-of-pearl fell out of the second valve last night. Before trying to super glue it back in, I was thinking about replacing it with a cool coin (and then doing the same on the other pistons). It appears to be exactly the same size as a US nickel, but not sure if that's what I would use.

My wife got me the coins (Contemporary Polish) and I had Baltimore Brass dig out the faux MOP and install them for a very reasonable fee.

When I have glued my own on a spatula/rotary valve, it was with a hot glue gun.