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I was wondering if it's "miracle" powers have any uses in the tuba world. If so, What?

ha, I'm just looking for an economical way of maintaing a fleet of sousaphones. maybe talking some short cuts. or a last minute lube before a parade.

WD-40 is NOT a lubricant.

The primary function of WD-40 is a solvent and rust dissolver.

Use purpose made instrument lubricants on those sousaphones. That means real valve oil and real slide grease...not WD-40 and Vaseline. If your sousaphones have valve or slide problems, have them cleaned and/or taken to a professional repairman.

Besides, would you really want to spend all night inhaling WD-40 fumes from your sousaphone?

it's not me thats inhaling it. I prefer the real deal. I was thinkning of conveinience and quick fix situations

tubatom91 wrote:it's not me thats inhaling it. I prefer the real deal. I was thinkning of conveinience and quick fix situations

I wouldn't want anyone to have to it inhale that crap all night long through a sousaphone...

I really can't think of what sort of situation (quick fix or otherwise) would call for WD-40 as a remedy. Care to enlighten me.

And did I already mention that WD-40 is a solvent and not a lubricant? That's significant.

Only three hits a day?

tubatom91 wrote:ha, I'm just looking for an economical way of maintaing a fleet of sousaphones. maybe talking some short cuts. or a last minute lube before a parade.

I think that in the last few minutes before a parade, it would be much more likely that someone will have valve oil than carrying WD40 in their sousaphone case.

hmmmm....I was always told it was a lubricant but o well, it was worth a shot

Tom wrote:WD-40 is NOT a lubricant.

The primary function of WD-40 is a solvent and rust dissolver.

Tom is absolutely correct - the W D stands for Water Displacement. The only possible use I could think of would be to try and get a mouthpiece unstuck.

P.S. The 40 means 40th attempt. Kinda like Preparation H - makes you feel sorry for the people who put Preparations A through G on their hemroids!

P.S. The 40 means 40th attempt. Kinda like Preparation H - makes you feel sorry for the people who put Preparations A through G on their hemroids!

I always thought 'H' stood for hemrroids...

...

I had a stuck slide once that I sprayed with WD40 and it finally budged the next day.

Indeed. Read this, the mandatory manufacturer's safety data sheet, and then decide if you really want it anywhere around your tuba:

http://www.wd40.com/Download/?/Brands/p ... ulk.us.pdf

WD 40 Works good for cleaning the nasty dity oil off your hands from a Ford 6.0 turbo diesel engine.

The valve oil that WWBW and Giardinelli sell for 5 or 6 dollars for 16 fl. oz. works good. And it's real valve oil with no stink.

If you want to use lamp oil, get "Ultrapure" lamp oil. About $3 a pint. No smell that I can detect, but my wife swears that my smeller's broken. What I finally did was take an old saline solution nasal spray bottle from CVS, washed it good and put in about an ounce of the ultrapure. I take the valves out of my 10J about every other time I play it, wipe them down and mist them with the sprayer. Works fine for me, but YMMV. Only problem is that it contains parrafin, which solidifies in cold weather. Not very good for outdoor playing in winter.
jlb

I've heard about the lamp oil routine before, but what I don't understand, is:
Why don't people just use VALVE OIL, to oil their valves? Aren't there enough choices out there???

first off, you could probably buy a bottle of cheap valve oil for less than a can of WD40. wd40 ranges from 2.69 to 6.69 whereas i can pick a bottle of La Tromba w/the silicone additive for 5 bucks flat. oh, and the La Tromba lasts quite a while. oh, did i also mention it's VALVE OIL and NOT WD40. wd40 is great for getting extremely mistreated valve slides and jammed mouthpieces out of their pipes.
second, if your in a quick spot where you need your valves to work for a parade try spitting on them. is it gross, yes, but does it work, YES. now, this isn't a permanent fix, but it will work for the situation seeing that most parades (from my experiences) have lasted for around 10-15 minutes. even then, this will last for 30-45. just be sure to oil them later.

hope this helps!

Z-Tuba Dude wrote:I've heard about the lamp oil routine before, but what I don't understand, is:
Why don't people just use VALVE OIL, to oil their valves? Aren't there enough choices out there???

A fair question. In my case, I was curious. I read about using lamp oil, so I bought a pint (smallest I could get) to try it. Prior to that, I was using Al Cass. The lamp oil worked at least as well as Al Cass, and now, here I am, the proud owner of a lifetime supply

Unless I use it in a lamp, I don't think I'll ever run out.

TubaingAgain wrote:WD 40 Works good for cleaning the nasty dity oil off your hands from a Ford 6.0 turbo diesel engine.

What's interesting is that the WD-40 Company (which is the company that makes WD-40) bought Lava soap a few years ago. I think there is a correlation there.