TubaForum.net

Usually I use dish soap at home, but I'm on tour and the horn is desperately needing a bath. I'm debating on just using the provided shampoo or body wash at the next hotel.

Will these do a decent enough job for the horn? I assume I'd prefer the body wash because, in my experience, shampoo is tougher to rinse out.

Or should I run out for some palmolive?

Run out to CVS, Walgreens, or the nearest gas station and get some Dawn or Joy or whatever is the simplest thing they have.

Hotel body wash is gonna be full of all kinds of crap your horn doesn't need, unless of course it has dry skin.

Didn't think about that...and I don't think the horn has dry skin this time.

…and I thought I was the king of the weird posts and non sequiturs.

bloke wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 6:44 pm …and I thought I was the king of the weird posts and non sequiturs.

You are. No one is disputing that.

Bring back small bottles of shampoo and tiny soaps.

This pump bottle soap crap is BS!!

bloke wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 6:44 pm …and I thought I was the king of the weird posts and non sequiturs.

If nothing else, this post reestablishes that.

Three Valves wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 6:56 am This pump bottle soap crap is BS!!

Depends on the hotel with what they provide, but to be fair, the other day I sent a few bags of luggage ahead on the bus so that I could fly with only a single carryon (and not have to deal with my old school double edge razor through TSA), and the hotel had complimentary razors but no shaving cream, and I needed to shave before the show. I went through so much of that pump conditioner to get as comfortable a shave as I could, and it worked.

Also, I overnighted a cleaning snake ahead of me to Lincoln on Saturday, thinking 4 days would be enough time to have an OVERNIGHTED package be there by the time I was able to clean my horn on Tuesday afternoon. Amazon decided "overnight from Saturday" means "Wednesday is good enough," and they basically shrugged when I asked them to fix it and get another package here ASAP. I really hate myself for not remembering my own cleaning snakes from home, and I'm either going to Uber 5 miles to a shop first thing tomorrow, or borrow one from the trombone player when I pick up my horn after load-in.

Either way, I am cancelling that order, not that that snake looked great, but it was the only one that "promised" an overnight time frame.

SO,

Bath was done last week, horn is playing exponentially better than it's been, but now (and this didn't happen before), the second valve is really catching quite often. It's extremely frustrating, as the piston and casing have no visible debris in them, and everything was cleaned thoroughly with a toothbrush and vinegar, including the valve caps and the springs. The horn is getting well oiled before every show (Hetman Classic), but the second valve is sticking, especially if it stays down for longer passages, it won't want to come up.

The horn travels in the company trucks and i only really see it at the venues right now. So, any suggestions on what to look out for? I am thinking maybe a lighter oil, but I doubt that'll help. My only guess is that perhaps I didn't rinse the casing out well enough, but would soap residue gob up like that?

I'm trying my damnedest to make it to the end of the run in December, at which point the valves will be shipped off for an overhaul. I will have a couple weeks in DC, and might pay Baltimore Brass a visit, but I'm just trying to get the horn to the finish line since it will be rebuilt soon anyway.

@BopEuph, did you give the valve guides a good second scrub? My guess is that there’s some gunk in there that isn’t noticeable when putting the valves back in.

Oh man, I never considered that. I'm going to have to try that before sound check tomorrow.

The best thing about working on a tour is unlimited cheap toothbrushes for cleaning horns!

If one or more of your valves are sticking intermittently, it’s more likely that either a casing or a piston feature a flaw, and looking ahead to a city on your tour for a competent repair guy and some scheduling might do you more good than shampooing your tuba.

I have to admit that every time I see the title to this thread, I think I've never heard of a hotel that does not supply soap for showers.

You've probably already checked this.
The felts under the finger button might be worn out allowing too much travel or felt debris might be binding with the cap.
Possibly the horn got tapped and the valve stem binds with the valve cap. Check the travel of the valve with the finger button off.
"Break a Leg"
Joe H

Don't AI spambots have anything better to do than resurrect 2 year old TubaForum threads?

arpthark wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2024 11:02 am Don't AI spambots have anything better to do than resurrect 2 year old TubaForum threads?

@groovlow is a spambot?

arpthark wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2024 11:02 am Don't AI spambots have anything better to do than resurrect 2 year old TubaForum threads?

They probably used the search function regarding cleaning a horn.

Don’t use body wash or shampoo on your brass instrument.

MiBrassFS wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 7:25 am Don’t use [...] shampoo on your brass instrument.

But what if it's really hairy?

arpthark wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 7:29 am

MiBrassFS wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 7:25 am Don’t use [...] shampoo on your brass instrument.

But what if it's really hairy?

Then don’t forget the conditioner…

Would an o.t.c. acne medicine prevent red-rot, or would it need to be something prescribed ?