best way to sterilize?

[sc_curtis]

I'm guessing you'd like something to use out and about? Obviously warm soapy water with a brush at home will get it clean.

Different people use different recipes. Back in college, I remember Mr. Rose telling me how he use to make his own batch of mouthpiece sterilizer out of everclear and mouthwash. I'm sure that would kill anything!

But if you used ethanol or isopropyl alcohol (as suggested by someone else), it would work as well. I would mix it with something for smell (and taste).

[windshieldbug]

best way to sterilize?

I hear that Michael Vick's looking for a new job...

[gwwilk]

Why will people always freak out over a mouthpiece that one other person has used, when they use nasty-*** silverware at restaurants that hundreds of people with who-knows-what diseases have used...

...and the silverware was extremely quickly washed off by illegal aliens.

Finally...someone pointed out the obvious flaw in the premise behind this thread! Thanks, Bloke.

[windshieldbug]

...and the silverware was extremely quickly washed off by illegal aliens.

[peter birch]

Inject said mouthpiece with high doses of anabolic steroids.

Could you please describe this process more thoroughly?

so long as you are able to avoid random out of season testing...
seriously (and i say this with professional interest in the subject) forget about sterilising your mouthpiece, concentrate instead on keeping it scrupulously CLEAN. There are real differences between the two states, you can clean something without sterilising but can't sterilise without cleaning, nad for a brass instrument mouthpiece, once well cleaned you need do nothing more..honestly.

[jonesbrass]

I always use hot water and antibacterial soap.

[OldsRecording]

I would use hot or boiling salted water , maybe a bit of concentrate lemon juice too.

And, if you just add onions, carrots and celery, maybe some potatoes, (oh, right. Forgot the leeks.) and boil until the mouthpiece is just fork-tender, we're talkin' soup!

[peter birch]

Idiots do not seem to understand that you have to clean off the nasty stuff as much as possible with the lather from SOAP first BEFORE using sanitizer or you are just sanitizing the top layer of filth. And the constant use of antibacterial soap and hand sanitizer causes you to lose some resistance to some bugs that are normally present in your daily life, possibly causing some people to get sick more often.

this is true, if a little harsh. Many medical practitioners(including surgeons), that I know don't understand this so it is not suprising that brass players don't get it.
It is after all clenliness, not sterility, that is next to Godliness.

[windshieldbug]

best way to sterilize?

[Jeffrey Hicks]

for those who suggested putting them in the dishwasher. I tried to do it but i could not get her mouth open wide enough.

[LoyalTubist]

The milk was streaming down my nose, into my mustache and beard.

[TubaRay]

for those who suggested putting them in the dishwasher. I tried to do it but i could not get her mouth open wide enough.

LOL

[OldsRecording]

I was NOT expecting your dishwasher joke. Had I been eating fish sticks and drinking something the mess would have been tremendous!

FUNNY!

Fish sticks? eeww...

[peter birch]

[quote="bloke"]If you insist on going over a cleaned mouthpiece with alcohol, isopropyl alcohol doesn't go down particularly well - if you plan to play the thing immediately.

If you're going to put alcohol all over a mouthpiece and play it immediately, this stuff (below: grain alcohol) is not quite as toxic as isopropyl:

The anti microbial action of alcohol comes from the drying due to evaporation. Interesting that no-one has mentioned drying the MP after cleaning it.

[Jeffrey Hicks]

I was NOT expecting your dishwasher joke. Had I been eating fish sticks and drinking something the mess would have been tremendous!

FUNNY!

Fish sticks? eeww...

Fish sticks and this are all an elephant require if I have been paying attention....

[iiipopes]

Silverplate, in and of itself, is a natural antibiotic agent. So keeping it wiped clean and dry after use is the primary way to keep it sterile.

The little brush to get gunk out of the throat and backbore is necessary, even if you do brush and/or rinse before playing, because we all have gunk that will get into the backbore.

The music stores have their little bottles of minty disinfectant that they spray and wipe a mouthpiece with after a customer auditions a mouthpiece.

After wiping and brushing the backbore, a splash of any good antibacterial mouthwash and another wipe dry should be sufficient.

Now, this issue gets confused with tarnishing, or other physical discoloration, which is a whole 'nutha kettle of fish. The top rack of a dishwasher might be alright, but just as you have to be careful about other silverplated items in a dishwasher, just make sure the dishwashing detergent you use isn't too caustic or abrasive.

[bisontuba]

Hi-
Use Hydrogen Peroxide solution--also good for killling germs in your horn should you have a cold, the flu, etc. Then flush with water.
Regards-
mark
jonestuba@Juno.com

[LoyalTubist]

I just remembered...

In 1984, when I was in the Army, I caught pneumonia three times. The reason why the reoccurrence was that I had been playing tubas without disinfecting them. The doctor told me (the third time I got sick) that this was the reason for the three-peat. (And I thought it was because my first sergeant had me run three miles despite having a 102 fever!)

I used soap and water, soaking the tubas in the bathtub (we had bathtubs in the barracks) in warm water. Then I ran hydrogen peroxide through the horns followed by Lavoris mouthwash. (The cinnamon aroma was almost overpowering!)

Nowadays, since Lavoris is difficult to find (and they DO still make it), I use amber Listerine if I get sick. It really doesn't do anything but if the people you work with know what you've been going through, they know you're trying.