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If I were to have a morning glory horn professionally repainted how much money would it cost? And if I repaint the horn myself what is the best method for getting perfect pin striping lines?

Victrolaboy wrote:If I were to have a morning glory horn professionally repainted how much money would it cost? And if I repaint the horn myself what is the best method for getting perfect pin striping lines?

how much will it cost? it really depends on what you want from your painter... pinstriping can be done the good ol' way with one shot paint and pinstripe brush or esle masking tape and spray paint. this way you just have to lay your masking tape straight and cover all panels except for the parts you want stripes on and spray your paint.

Well I do t know of any one who repaints them. Is there anyone that specializes in repainting morning glory horns?

I have had some auto body friends of mine cleanup/repair/paint some larger bodies on brass belled horns. They can turn out extremely nice with issues resolved, but even doing that cost me $150 to 200 a horn depending on what was needed/time involved..it is really going to depend on if you want the horns sprayed only or cleaned up and problems repaired or not.....if they have brass bells, remember that brass polishing ain't cheap either if you want it done right...doing these thingsnyourself will save a lot of cash if you have the time and resources.....

It it's an Edison black horn, you can do the pinstripes quite easily with a brayer. I have an idea that's how they did those when they were new. It's always worked well for me and takes about 5 minutes. The black is a lot more work of course. But if you let the black paint dry a week or two first you can use mineral spirits if you get crazy and get some gold paint where you don't want it.

EarlH wrote:It it's an Edison black horn, you can do the pinstripes quite easily with a brayer. I have an idea that's how they did those when they were new. It's always worked well for me and takes about 5 minutes. The black is a lot more work of course. But if you let the black paint dry a week or two first you can use mineral spirits if you get crazy and get some gold paint where you don't want it.

No my morning glory horn I'm guessing is a Hawthorne & Sheble and I'm using DupliColor metal cast red paint. But what is the best way to do pin striping inside the bell near the edge?

Can you show is a picture of the horn in question, or one done in similar style ?


It really depends on how the horn was finished in the first place, and what you want it to look like when the "restoration" is complete...

If the horn was originally paint black ( or another opaque color ), and perhaps had gold striping along the "spines" / edges, that is one thing, and fairly achieveable.

If it is something like a Tea-Tray Company with tinted, transparent lacquer, and flowers painted on top, that is a whole 'nother story.

The "flowered horns" usually were made of steel, which was then tin-plated, which gave a very bright, almost mirror-reflective surface, then base-coated with a tinted lacquer, which gives a similar effect to modern "candy-clear" coatings, usually with a red, blue, or green tint, then the flowers were painted-on by hand. I do not know if a protective coat of clear lacquer was sprayed over the flowers or not.

The tough part about restoring these horns, is getting the substrate ( horn surfaces themselves ) cleaned and prepped. Since the color coat is transparent, any discolorations (rust ,black stains, loss of tin-plate) is going to show right through the lacquer.

Frequently, the surface is riddled with streaks of rust, where the original tin-plate was thin or scratched, some worn-through from handling. Then the steel base-metal begins to rust, stain, and pit.

Assuming you can find someone with the appropriate ability to paint the flowers, and spray the tinted nitro-cellulose lacquer, unless the horn shell and tin-plating can be made "perfect", the end product might not seem worth the effort ?

The attached photos are of an Edison "Banner" Home, model B and the Tea-Tray Co horn that came with it. I have been told that the horn is somewhat rare, because it is decorated with pansies. Apparently Roses are more common. It has more than its fair share of wear and tear. I would like for it to look better, but several veteran collectors here have suggested that I leave this horn alone.

The horn that I want to repaint was already sanded and repainted gold by some one else in the past. So far I have removed all the gold paint very carefully and I have put several coats of sandable primer paint. The paint I'm using is Dulicolor metal cast paint which is made to be sprayed on Crome so it has a semi transparent look just like the original paint. I'm doing a silver base coat to get the correct color and you can use this paint on non Crome surfaces if you do a silver base coat.

Sounds like you're on the right track...

If you're not already past this point yet, I would use the priming stage to sand / prime / fill any surface imperfections ( pits ), using spot-putty, if needed.

Once the substrate is smooth and even to your satisfaction, you can go ahead with silver "ground", then the color coats.

Color coats do only one thing: they add color to whatever they are applied to; they do NOT hide any flaws in the substrate, and in some cases, bring-out surface imperfections.


if you plan on just going with gold border striping, you can probably DIY with a rubber "brayer", or a good artist's brush (Eric Reiss's "The Compleat Talking Machine" his some good tips on brush-striping).

If you plan on flowers, I would suggest finding an artist that can paint flowers really well, and have them perform that part of the job, And provide them with as many photos of good horn flowers, or an original horn that they can use for a model.

It would probably be a good idea to let the ground / color coats harden for a few weeks before doing the flowers.

I don't know what kind of paint was originally used for the floral designs; the flowers on my horn are quite opaque, and there are no brush strokes / texture evident, or very fine ones. The paint had to have been compatible with the red lacquer.

Yes I'm using filling primer that you wet sand and I've already done that. Now I just need to wait for the weather to get warmer. Down here in Tennessee it's been around 7 degrees in the morning and during the day below 20 in the teens probably. But I'm sure it's not nearly as cold as it is with some of you guys up north!
-Nick