Posted by duneland on January 29, 2002 at 11:59:53:
I haven't encountered this with tubas as much as other instruments, particularly trumpets and trombones. (does that mean these players have poor hygiene ?) Anyway, with the advent of ebay, I'm sure a lot of us have now purchased used instruments whose cases smell like they have been in a bad basement for 20-30 years. And after you take the horn to the shop, get it cleaned up, have a few dents removed, get the slides unstuck and greased, you may feel like you have a great instrument, but you still have a case that smells like mildew. If it's an ugly case, so be it, get a new one. But I'm kind of fond of the old King Cases, which have a purple inside and the bronze King tag on the outside. So, if you like the case, can you somehow return it to "normal", or "decent" shape? There are some cool vintage cases out there, including some old leather ones, but once the mildew gets in, it's real hard to live with.
What have I tried ? Leave the case in the sun in my front room for a few months, cover it in baking soda, close it up, the vacum it out a week later, leave the case in the car trunk for 30 days in cold weather. I'm not sure any of these methods work or are recommended. Anyone else have any success here ? Is it dangerous to one's health to keep using a mildew case ?
On a side note, the first trombone I played was a great King from the 1940's I would guess. It belonged to my uncle, and had obviously been in the basement a LONG time.
So I cleaned out the bathtub, filled it with water, and let the trombone soak. Well, the mold inside the horn was quite thick, and my spit valve was blowing green for several months. The pitting on the slide was a shame, but the horn had a great sound. Come to think of it, I'm going to call him now and find out what happened to that thing.