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I am looking for Quick Horn Rinse (QHR) new or used, or similar device to quickly flush the inside of my tubas with soap and water. Does anyone have one to sell? Alternately has anyone built something like that, and willing to share information on how I can put one together myself? Thank you!

Used to be a kit for filling waterbeds that was basically the same thing.

If I understand correctly, the QHR is simply a short piece of hose with a mouthpiece shaft on one side and a screw fitting on the other.

While that certainly offers a convenient way to flush an instrument, it may be a good idea to make some adaptations for home use:
I´d suggest an electric-drill-operated water pump with a 1.5 yard garden hose on each port. The QHR may serve as a convenient adaptor to the pressure- side of that setup.

Wet an old towel, fold it up and set it into a corner of the shower. (Wetness will prevent sliding).
Put your tuba with the bottom bow on that towel and rest the bell in a corner.
Fixate all valves in pressed position (rubber bands or whatever).
Fill the horn with water and a detergent or decalcifying agent of your choice.

Stick the suction hose down the bell and the QHR into the leadpipe and let the elctric drill do it´s thing for a while (maybe 5 minutes). Let rest for a desired time (a few hours maybe).
Operate the pump for another five minutes. Then do your back a favor and use that same pump to drain the horn before you do a couple of king-spins.

This should be more effective than a quick rinse for a few minutes or a simple fill-up with resting time.

Meinlschmidt has a shower sprayer adapter to rinse out instruments.

https://www.jm-gmbh.de/en/hydro-jet-m1/

https://www.jm-gmbh.de/wp-content/uploa ... yer-EN.pdf

Tubeast wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 1:27 am Fill the horn with water

This is gonna be heavy (water is 62.5 lbs per cubic foot), so expect it to shift...unexpectedly.

MiBrassFS wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 2:52 am Meinlschmidt has a shower sprayer adapter to rinse out instruments.

https://www.jm-gmbh.de/en/hydro-jet-m1/

https://www.jm-gmbh.de/wp-content/uploa ... yer-EN.pdf

I have one of these. Cleans well but the pressure is so high it always turns into a comedy bit

https://tenor.com/view/slip-water-hose- ... f-16189412

gocsick wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 4:19 am

MiBrassFS wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 2:52 am Meinlschmidt has a shower sprayer adapter to rinse out instruments.

https://www.jm-gmbh.de/en/hydro-jet-m1/

https://www.jm-gmbh.de/wp-content/uploa ... yer-EN.pdf

I have one of these. Cleans well but the pressure is so high it always turns into a comedy bit

https://tenor.com/view/slip-water-hose- ... f-16189412

Same here...

I use one of these now to connect to the mouthpiece receiver: https://www.bol.com/nl/nl/p/gardena-wat ... 010483859/

That works ok, but I'll try and 3D print an adapter that has a mouthpiece taper. If that works ok I can sacrifice an old moithpiece and create a proper adapter

What I have here is something like this:

https://www.thomannmusic.com/stoelzel_i ... 590427.htm

I think it was made by Tilz or JK decades ago. Looks like neither makes them today. I’ll plug it in and let run for a while. Pretty good flush. Not an ultrasonic/chemical/etc. cleaning, but a simple flush. Good for shooting some hottish water through the instrument. Done often enough along with other stuff, you won’t need anything else very often (or ever at all). The extra long shower hose part came from a hardware store.

One very good reason to do this:

Someone I know, recently bought a tuba at a very good price. It was kind of stuffy in the 3rd valve and didn't like to center if the 3rd valve was in use but otherwise was quite nice -- no weird intonation problems, a very open upper register. and a good player. Perfect quintet tuba.

One day just a few days after receiving it, he took it out of the case and heard a rattling sound. He had set it on the floor on the bow, so he looked down the bell and saw five or six quite small packing peanuts. He said "Huh" and dumped them out, and they made noise when they hit the tile floor. He set it down again and heard more rattling but saw nothing so did a steering wheel maneuver and -- MORE little peanuts came down into the bell. Dumped them out again. NOT new squshy peanuts -- little bitty ancient hardened peanuts. No telling how long they were in there. He thinks that they were "knocked loose from wherever they had been wedged" during shipping.

The tuba's 3rd valve was no longer stuffy.

Yep, more common that you’d think.

It's important to do this once a year to remove all the wrong notes and clams that have built up.

arpthark wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 11:32 am It's important to do this once a year to remove all the wrong notes and clams that have built up.

You would be astonished how many more clams a French horn can hold, despite its much smaller bore. Especially tiny clams in the high range.

I have one. I should sell it and build my own, but instead I'll post a link so everyone can build one for themselves

This one is much higher quality than what the real QHR is. All it's missing is the hose that is the appropriate size to go into an seal the leadpipe receiver


https://a.co/d/06ywdwoX



And here's the real thing

Thank you all for the suggestions and discussion. I asked because I had stored my horn in a building that wasn't air conditioned in Florida for a couple of months in the summer without cleaning it first, and the sludge inside dried into flaky, powdery scales. I discovered this minutes before rehearsal (second mistake for those counting), cleaned it as best I could but not nearly good enough. I developed a cough immediately afterwards which I attribute to inhaling valve oil and phelgm dust. My current cleaning routine takes an hour, leaves a ring in the bathtub and water all over the bathroom floor, which needs to be cleaned up (so I'm told quite emphatically). I was looking for a shortcut, there are some good ideas here. Has anyone tried spraying isopropyl alcohol into their instrument? I'm thinking of trying that between washings.

BTW, I'm sure it has been discussed before, but a tuba that isn't cleaned regularly can be a health hazard:
https://today.uconn.edu/2010/09/wind-in ... musicians/

Thanks again

I've been known to give a tuba a bath with white vinegar mixed into the water, followed by a bath with baking soda

gocsick wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 4:19 am

MiBrassFS wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 2:52 am Meinlschmidt has a shower sprayer adapter to rinse out instruments.

https://www.jm-gmbh.de/en/hydro-jet-m1/

https://www.jm-gmbh.de/wp-content/uploa ... yer-EN.pdf

I have one of these. Cleans well but the pressure is so high it always turns into a comedy bit

https://tenor.com/view/slip-water-hose- ... f-16189412

No thank you, if I wanted to do comedy, I would have taken up the trombone.

Mary Ann wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 10:40 am Someone I know, recently bought a tuba at a very good price. It was kind of stuffy in the 3rd valve and didn't like to center if the 3rd valve was in use but otherwise was quite nice -- no weird intonation problems, a very open upper register. and a good player. Perfect quintet tuba.

One day just a few days after receiving it, he took it out of the case and heard a rattling sound. He had set it on the floor on the bow, so he looked down the bell and saw five or six quite small packing peanuts. He said "Huh" and dumped them out, and they made noise when they hit the tile floor. He set it down again and heard more rattling but saw nothing so did a steering wheel maneuver and -- MORE little peanuts came down into the bell. Dumped them out again. NOT new squshy peanuts -- little bitty ancient hardened peanuts. No telling how long they were in there. He thinks that they were "knocked loose from wherever they had been wedged" during shipping.

The tuba's 3rd valve was no longer stuffy.

This story sounds familiar. Do you know how it's working out as a quintet tuba?

Don't have a quintet right now in which I can play tuba. For some reason that kind of group is hard to find here although the band opportunities are myriad. I'm in a very long standing quintet that meets irregularly, in which I play euph (my worst brass) on the tbone part. There have been times when I felt I'd do much better using the NStar on that part.

It may or may not come to pass given the recent craziness with health, but I love the Scherzer and am having fun with the Tuba-Euph people who come here to play. I can play either bass or contra in that because the other tuba is flexible, and for now that's enough. A still works better 1-2 though. 3rd slide is a little long for me (I tend to play at the bottom of the slot.)

Mary Ann wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 9:11 am … 3rd slide is a little long for me (I tend to play at the bottom of the slot.)

I hope I didn’t lengthen the main tuning slide too much….

So far in the heat we are having, it's ok. With the extra parts you sent, I could have it put back pretty easily. It was fine at a reading session a week ago.