Re: Cleaning Valves


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Posted by Mark Heter on February 16, 2004 at 23:22:46:

In Reply to: Cleaning Valves posted by Euph player on February 13, 2004 at 13:18:31:

"Brownish" - as in "no plating left"?
First, bathe the horn in a suitable degreaser - Dawn, or try one of these new "orange" cleaners - they won't hurt anything, and they seem, to get the sludge out pretty well.

If the insides of the valve casings are tarnished (probably are, too), a trumpet rod with a clean rag with the mild metal polish - I like Noxon - is good for cleaning the crud off the brass. Don't overdo it. Polish up the valves, too - the brown stuff is corrosion of unplated (or worn-off plating) brass. A trombone snake should be run through all the valve slide stocks, and the through the crooks, and mouthpipe. LOTS of water should be flushed through the instrument; there's probably the vestiges of other students' peanut butter sandwiches in there somewhere, or worse.

When you flush it out, check the horn for leaks (fill it up with water) - brass horns, especially older ones, will corrode on the inside (saliva is acidic) and rot from the inside out.

If it stinks, a little bit of baking soda mixed with warm water flushed through the horn will "sweeten" it up a a bit.

I hate to say this, but it's a good idea to make no assumptions about the personal hygiene of the previous musicians who played your horn. A lot of people (unfortunately some experienced musicians, too) will contract some hideous bronchial infection, play their horn while infected, and loan their axe to someone else without cleaning it, or start playing on it again after they've gotten well without cleaning it, only to re-infect themselves or others. Yuck.

Also, if the horn has gone for a long time without regular cleanings, resign yourself to doing several cleanings before all the mung (or gleet, if you're in the South) is flushed out of the axe.

Holton valve oil (if you can find it) seems to work well on horns with loose tolerances in the valves.

BTW, the above should have been taught to you in your first lesson...

Good luck!




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