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Hey Ken

One option is the elbow or knee pads. I believe that they are neoprene. I use one and it does not hurt the finish on my horn and they are strap on using velcro. Easy to get on and take off, and look ok as well. The one that I use is black and I got it at the CVS or Walgreens and it was very inexpensive.

I have heard that the chemicals that are used in tanning leather can cause problems with the plating or laquer.

Here is a link that has some pictures of them:

http://www.elbowpain.com/Elbow_Pain_Pro ... _Wraps.htm

Anyway this works great for me.

Willie

Ken,

I'm pretty sure LSCO will call you back. They're the best in my opinion. I've had a few custom designs done by them and they always get it right (I draw up a pattern with paper and pencil, outline it in black... add 1/2" for the seams and fax it to them). Besides, their leather guards have 3 layers... the outside is leather, middle layer is a thin flexible plastic to keep moisture from penetrating, and the inside layer (that touches the horn) is similar to velor and doesn't cause tarnish.

To be honest, I don't know of any other vendor that does as good a job.

Hi knuxie --

A couple of good ideas at work here. First, that you have a material that's soft and malleable so that you can effectively wrap it around the horn at the desired spot. Leather works well, but then so could some of the neoprene pads and other sportswear support gear. One thing to guard against with ANY of these, really, is the off-gassing that soft and unstable plastics/ fabrics have. They can also break down quickly over not TOO MUCH time, and, the softer they are, the more they'll hold hand/ skin oils that can degrade lacquer or accelerate tarnishing of silver.

We got a problem!! .....

If you get yourself some leather --from a shoe maker, tanner, etc. -- consider making a pattern for it [something YOU would definitely want to do yourself ... why leave it to "the experts"?] so that it could maybe have some lacing on it so that you could undo it and easily clean under it as needed/ desired.

The guards will help to protect the horn and keep it beautiful, but you also need to guard against the guards, so that they don't handcuff you down the line. And if they're fabric of some kind, just remember to clean them periodically so that they don't act as traps of all the heebie-geebies that you don't want on there in the first place.

My only contribution....



Leather will begin to smell bad. Very bad. There are ways to decrease this, BUT it will continue to get worse and worse. It is organic and you are keeping it wet/oily with your skin, PLUS it is getting trapped against the metal on the other side of the guard.

I made a guard out of black leather and lined it with velvet. It's been on the tuba for at least 7 years now. There's no smell. Never has been any smell. The tuba is just fine under it. I undo the velcro that keeps it in place every so often and check.

I made mine after I had to have the part of the tuba my arm rests on re-lacquered. I do sweat when I play in a warm venue.

If you use finished leather it shouldn't soak up sweat. You can get it for not a lot at Tandy. It's not all that difficult to make the guard yourself. Mine looks as good today as when I made it.

I made my own by sewing non-slip shelf liner to the back of some imitation leather. It gives good grip, it is easy to remove, won't srcatch the lacquer... all that good stuff.

It might be worth trying that.

Go to your local favorite craft store and they will have Black (and other colors) foam sheets for craft projects. Not the stuff for cushioning. It'll probably be somewhere near the construction paper. I like the 1/8" thickness. You'll certainly find 8 1/2"X 11" sheets and hopefully larger. Cut out a paper pattern, test fit it on the horn and transfer it to the foam sheet. On mine, I sewed some velcro tabs onto it to hold it together. The self stick on kind of Velcro don't stick well enough as is. Mine has been on for 3 years and is holding up fine.

Our Yamaha YFB 621 at Appalachian State has a Knee brace(found at your local pharmacy in the Ace bandage section) on it. Just black neoprene material that has velcro straps, it works really well and could work well for you.

Tennis racket tape works for me. I use it on bows or slides or wherever I grab the horn a lot.

Go to your local sporting goods store and pick up a few packs (usually comes in various colors).

Won't stink, cheap to replace, and easy to install.

Just and idea...

dtemp wrote:Tennis racket tape works for me. I use it on bows or slides or wherever I grab the horn a lot.

Go to your local sporting goods store and pick up a few packs (usually comes in various colors).

Won't stink, cheap to replace, and easy to install.

Just and idea...

Does it leave adhesive behind when you change the tape? Would this hurt the finish on a silver tuba? Thanks!