Question about my new King tuba

[DonO.]

Well, my friends, I was only able to spend a little time with my new friend today before my chops gave out. I love the tone. It is definitely capable of gorgeous sound but I need stronger chops to do it justice. It has the cosmetics, the tone, the intonation is quite good. Only one thing is bothering me. The valves have a bit of a grating or gritty sound and feel. All four valves have it to some extent, some better some worse, 1 seems best and 4 seems worst. I did put plenty of synthetic oil on the valves before playing. The instruction sheet that comes with the tuba doesn’t mention this, but it does say to “clean” the valves “every day” (!) over the next three weeks (!!) to “get rid of microscopic metal particles that are a result of the manufacturing process” as the valves go through their “break in period”. Is this what is causing my sound/feel? If I go through the procedure in the manual, how exactly should I do this “daily cleaning”? Soap and water? Just water? Something else? It sounds like quite the arduous procedure, with lots of opportunities for something to go wrong. After all any time the valve is out of the casing it is exposed. I’ve never had to “break in” brand new pistons before. I used to only have rotary instruments. As usual any advice is certainly appreciated.

[bloke]

It takes more than three weeks. It takes a year or two - until the valve casings have a coating of brass oxide on them that - daily - has been polished down by the pistons. I’ve talked about what kind of oil to use that costs almost nothing - which enables an instrument owner to oil their instrument with abandon - and without really costing anything, but I feel like a broken record.

If that tuba has been to shows, it’s been blown into and put away wet, a bunch of times. Lots of oil… Lots of playing…

[The Big Ben]

I clean my casings by pushing a rag through the casing. Three times each. Dampen with valve oil. Since you are using valve oil for your solvent, you don't have to worry about getting it all out. Take another oil dampened rag and wrap it around a piston and turn it around a few times. Reassemble with plenty of valve oil,

You probably want to use new rags each time. At the paint store, they sell "wipers" which are torn up t-shirt material. They come in a box and you buy them by the box. (You also can wash the rage in the washing machine to get the dirt, grease and grit out of them and use them again.)

[DonO.]

From what I’ve heard so far, it’s nothing I have to return the horn for, right? I do have only 14 days to make that decision. It sounds like the problem will resolve with time and lots of cleaning…

[jonesbrass]

From what I’ve heard so far, it’s nothing I have to return the horn for, right? I do have only 14 days to make that decision. It sounds like the problem will resolve with time and lots of cleaning…

I don’t think it’s anything to return your new tuba for. All new horns will have this issue to a greater or lesser extent.
Here’s what I do daily for my pistons during the break-in period:
1. Take the main tuning slide out and flush water down the lead pipe. Don’t move the valves.
2. Pull the valve out of the casing, wash with soap and water. Rinse thoroughly.
3. Take the bottom cap and spring off, set them aside together; make sure you know which bottom cap and spring goes with which valve.
4. Thread a plastic flute/recorder swab with clean t-shirt-type material and swab the casing out. You can put valve oil on the cloth, but I don’t always do this.
5. Put the bottom valve cap back on, insert the spring.
6. Oil the valve with 2-3 drops per valve; re-assemble valve and screw on the valve cap.
7. Play.

[Three Valves]

...or have it sonic cleaned to get out all the left over crud and polishing compound as part of making a new tuba.

Not a fan of synthetic oil.

[bort2.0]

Welcome to pistons. :)

Congrats on the new tuba!!!

[bloke]

My FIRST post implied nothing OTHER THAN to oil the crap out of it (forever) and with super-cheap oil (bought by the GALLON, and NOT pretentiously labeled "valve oil").

Your "break-in" should then be issue-free, and the instrument will still be in roughly "new" condition, by the time you croak...

...or until we're all overrun by gangs with brickbats and wooden sticks.

[tokuno]

Even well broken in, my 2341's metal guides created a kind of rumbly/bubbly (best way I can describe it) & noisy metallic feedback.
I followed Bloke's advice - bought a bunch of inexpensive nylon screws, reshaped the heads, and swapped in for the metal guides.
Quieter & much smoother.