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Hey List: Is it possible (read smart) to chem clean your tuba at home with like a lime or calcium remover or something of the like? I know of a guy that uses Zeps? from Home Depot and a baby bottle brush to clean the valve casings of a piston horn. Any other suggestions? I recently had my horns "cleaned and alligned" but I am really unhappy with the work I paid for. Also, any tips on how to allign the valves yourself? Again, I'm just exploring the possibilities here. Thanks for the look.

Justin

Use the search button and search for "vinegar bath". You'll find enough reading material to keep you quite busy for quite a while.

I would suggest, though, that unless you know EXACTLY what is in a chemical product, you shouldn't even consider using it in any musical instrument. You stand to ruin your horn or poison yourself if you make the wrong choice.
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Joe Baker, who gives his tuba a vinegar bath every 6 months or so.

I had a moment and tried my own remedy. Hmmm. That's a lot to sort through looking for something useful. Try this thread; it has a good discussion of using vinegar to chem clean.

viewtopic.php?p=23971&highlight=vinegar#23971

Good luck, and remember -- I make no guarantees, other than that I've truthfully related my own experience.

we've used CLR in emergencies when we were out of DeLime...

Joe Baker wrote:I had a moment and tried my own remedy. Hmmm. That's a lot to sort through looking for something useful. Try this thread; it has a good discussion of using vinegar to chem clean.

viewtopic.php?p=23971&highlight=vinegar#23971

Good luck, and remember -- I make no guarantees, other than that I've truthfully related my own experience.

Do you know the concentration of acetic acid in white vinegar? I am unfamiliar with the term.
Out here, household vinegar is 4% and it is only sold in 250 mL bottles. I would prefer to buy one bottle of glacial acetic acid than 50 bottles of vinegar.

finnbogi wrote:Do you know the concentration of acetic acid in white vinegar? I am unfamiliar with the term.
Out here, household vinegar is 4% and it is only sold in 250 mL bottles. I would prefer to buy one bottle of glacial acetic acid than 50 bottles of vinegar.

White vinegar is appr. 5% acetic acid. Around here I can buy it in gallon jugs from the grocery store for about $2 a gallon, so a chem clean costs me about $6. I wouldn't even know where to go to buy glacial acetic acid, or whether I'd need some sort of license or permit, but as long as you dilute it properly it seems like a good way to go.

Good luck!
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Joe Baker, who took chemistry 30 years ago and is still recovering.

White vinegar is more purified of contaminants (other flavors) as opposed to say cider vinegar, balsamic, or red wine vinegar, etc. All have similar acid concentrations. I just checked the label and glacial acetic acid contains over 80% acid by weight. If you want something higher than the check out the ethnic markets. I have a smallish bottle that I picked up a couple years ago that I think is 30% acid. I use it when cooking to add zing when I don't want to add a lot of liquid volume.

I've used vinegar in a small Rubbermaid tub to clean some slides and it worked well. I plan on giving my tuba a full bath in vinegar this summer. I've read in recent post that vinegar is good, but not as good as other acids. Can you not just leave a slide or valve (of whole tuba for that matter) in the vinegar bath LONGER rather than use these harsher chemicals?

When I did the vinegar bath with the slides, I had never done it before and I decided to be cautious. I diluted the vinegar pretty good and kept checking on the slides every 10 minutes. I think I left them soaking for 40 minutes total, but I probably could have left them in the bath longer with no ill effects.

What do YAWL (That's how a New Yorker who LIVES in Alabama spells y'all) think?

I soak with a solution of CLR. Time is on your side, and the longer you soak the horn, the less elbow grease is needed. I use a sponge to help rub off external tarnish.

Disassemble the horn completely. Protect your project from pets and kids.

I soak sousas in a child's wading pool outside. For upright horns, the job can be done in a spare bathtub (with a tightly plugged drain).

You can put the valves and smaller slides into a small glass or plastic container and cover with a CLR solution. You should agitate the container every five minutes or so for faster cleaning, but there's no harm in soaking overnight.

For neglected horns with a layer of green build-up coating the slides, I use loosely-fitting brass brushes from a shotgun cleaning kit to speed up the cleaning process.

I flush out the cleaned and reassembled horns with warm water from the tap. I use a plumbing fitting (for a portable clothes or dish washer) from the tap, connected to a length of plastic tubing whose outside diameter is a close fiit to the leadpipe.

I use Dawn dish detergent to give the tuba a bath and Lemon Pledge to keep it shiny. I also bought one of those cheap gold plating devices for mouthpieces that lose their plating. (They are about twenty bucks from those gadget catalogs--I got mine from Harriet Carter.)