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Right now it's 6 degrees outside, and something like 12 in the garage. The idea of leaving a horn out there seems wrong to me, but I don't know why. Has anyone had a horn damaged by the cold? And I guess the flip side is, Has anyone ever had a horn damaged by heat? (It gets hot here, too.)

You need to make sure it's not full of water!

I asked the same question about heat sometime last year but I couldn't find the post. I found this one in "Old TubeNet"...

Tim
http://www.chisham.com/tips/bbs/aug2001 ... 66056.html

We all like to call our instruments "our babies", would you leave your baby in the garage all night ?

My general rule of thumb: If you would be uncomfortable, then your instrument is likely uncomfortable. You wouldn't leave yourself in a closed car with 100 degree heat, and you wouldn't leave yourself in a 6 degree garage overnight.

When I had to take my horn to work for an after work assignment, I always took it inside. That way, it didn't get extreme temperatures, and I could keep an eye on it. I think we've all seen the stolen horn posts, which tells me, if avoidable, don't leave a horn in the car.

And who wants to put their lips on a 6 degree horn?

Chriss2760 wrote:Has anyone ever had a horn damaged by heat?

<img src="http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/9966 ... ad39ul.jpg" width="400">

Depends on the weather, doesn't it?

Seriously, it's a brass instrument. If you can stand the temperature, it can.

Jim Wagner

Hey maybe people can send their horns to your to have it frozen in your garage for $350.

Bill

I know a guy who's St. Pete was on a bus when it exploded.Bus burned for a while but other than the linkage being fried it worked fine. So I think it will be fine.

Leave a horn out in this kind of weather and I'll guarantee some interesting damage:

I work outdoors in New England Year 'round with metal of all kinds - welding and running equipment. Temps can dip into the single digits.

You should have no problem with cold or heat from normal atmospheric(sp?) temperature changes. While said in jest in a prior post, water could cause a problem, but that is a condition you can control. If extremely cold - 6 degrees or so as in your post, you probably won't be playing your horn. Plastic ball valve linkages might crack if beat upon at this temp. Just let your horn warm up indoors.

Normal heat should also not hurt your horn, even if in a hot car. It was soldered together at a heat much higher than the 200 degrees or so your closed car gets in the summer sun. Just don't put your lips on the mouthpiece right away!

If you play the violin, double bass, guitar etc my answer would be different because temp and humidity DO have an impact on wood and glue etc...

Hope this helps some.
Regards,
Bonde

Thanks for the input. I wasn't really concerned about playing it at 6 degrees, (we've had trouble here even in the upper 20's with valves freezing.) I was just wondering about damaging my horns by leaving them sitting in the car in the garage over night between gigs.
The posts regarding heat causing the valves to seize was enlightening, too. I haven't experienced that. (Although I did blister my lips on a mouthpiece in Bakersfield once!) I suppose it's the result of a differential in the coefficients of linear expansion between pistons and cases, right? That's good to know.

one thing that i have wondered in connection to this... It could be a load of BS.. but where i live, going from inside to out can lead to very large temperature differences... Our drum instructor told of wrecking his kit by taking it from the back of his truck (outside temp of around -20 F) into a warm bar for a gig... say 80 degrees. it was either the skins or the chrome itself that cracked and started peeling right off. like i said, could be BS. just wondered if anything like that could happen to lacquer or whatever. i don't have a truck, so it's no problem..i'd been wondering about that for awhile... any army guys posted up in resolute?

When I made a living with a Gibson guitar, the guitar went where I went. I could never leave it in a hot car. Now my tuba gets the same consideration.
I would get my guitar out first when I came in from the heat or cold to let it get used to the room temperature. After 30 minutes or so, I could tune it once and the tune would hold. It makes sense to do the same with my tuba.