Posted by Pat on October 23, 2000 at 08:30:49:
In Reply to: frozen slide and piston felt posted by Karl on October 22, 2000 at 21:26:07:
Understand I am no professional at this, however I have had a few instruments I've acquired with stuck tunning slides. Usually the dish towel or wrag trick will work. Pull steady, don't jurk too hard. I have had the wrong things give doing this too hard. My latest encounter was with an old tuba. Slide had been stuck apparently for years. Nothing was working so out of desperation I cut a 1 X ?? (board) wide enough to just fit between the two tubes. Cut it long enought to fit from a brace between the the two tubes to the curved part at the bottom after I cut the one end rounded to match the curve. Basically it filled that area. Then I cut it in two leaving the saw curf (spelling?). That was just enough room to get a small crow bar in the crack. A little bit of a twist on the crow bar and suprisingly it came loose rather easily. Didn't damage enything at all. I think the trick is to make sure you have even pressure at both ends of the board. This method puts no stress on anything but the stuck tunning slide. You may loose a brace or bend the slide but at least you won't trash anything else. You'll have much better control over what your doing this way also. I can only say this worked great for me and I'll try it again the next time I have this problem.