Poll - Lubricants?

[Z-Tuba Dude]

Just curious what people are using these days....

[Lew]

I've been using the scented Zaja oils. My current favorite is the watermelon.

[Tom]

I'm using "Lubrass" made by JA Musik as well as Supeslick Key and Rotor oil.

Is Lubrass the stuff that come with the horn? If not, where have you purchased it?

Just curious...never heard of it.

[Rick F]

I also use Hetman's. I like Hetman's Lite Piston oil. The lite oil works really well on Yamaha's tight valve clearances.

[Rick F]

I also use Hetman's. I like Hetman's Lite Piston oil. The lite oil works really well on Yamaha's tight valve clearances.

[Jonathan Fowler]

Zaja...mulberry also.

My teacher says it smells like play-dough

(or did he mean plato?)

[kegmcnabb]

Astroglide

Craig
www.sonicabsurdities.com
------
Marzan BBb
Kubicki Ex-Factor Bass

[LOTP]

Ultrapure Lamp Oil blended with ATF...proportion depending on use. Less ATF in rotaries. Slightly more on pistons. Add a bit for worn pistons. Most ATF on bearings and spindles.

[Steve Marcus]

Zaja-the standard formulation. The more expensive Zaja Blue, which contains teflon, did not work as well with my horn as the standard Zaja.

[winston]

.

[Chuck(G)]

I used to use Binak because it woiuld last and last. But after giving the subject some thought, I'm back to plain old oil.

One thing that the long-lasting lubes don't get you to do is clean your valves and leadpipe regularly--and like it or not, crud accumulates, which isn't good for the horn.

So I lclean and lubricate every day I play; it takes all of 5 minutes. The brand of oil doesn't make any real difference since it doesn't stay around long enough to matter. Al Cass, 5 Star, Roche Thomas, any of the cheapies work just fine. Even ultrapure lamp oil with a few drops of sewing machine oil seems to work about as well--and you can buy lamp oil by the half-gallon.

[Highams]

I was getting low on Blue Juice the weekend so I took a gamble and purchased (for an extra £2!) a bottle of the very latest Websters Valve Oil (as in Roger Webster, principal of the Black Dyke Band).

It really was so thick, it immediately gummed up my 1st. valve on my Willson. After cleaning it all off the valve (and inside the casing) I re-applied the Blue Juice and it was back to normal.

I may be able to use it on my vintage euphoniums that have much bigger clearances, but this was marketed for todays 'new' instruments!

www.euph9.freeserve.co.uk

[MaryAnn]

As a repair guy, I would like to offer a general comment:

Most rotors and pistons (particularly tubas) on instruments that I see (student and professional) have problems related to filth and lack of lubrication.

For instance, I just worked on a one-year-old professionally owned/played Engelbert-Schmidt triple horn ($1X,XXX) that had very lime-encrusted rotors and casings. The owner was apparently told by the maker (or, perhaps misinterpreted the maker's instructions) to never oil the valve bodies (?!?!). The owner of the instrument told me that he had never played any Engelbert-Schmidt that had valves that "felt" as good as his did after I cleaned them. I didn't take that as any sort of a compliment. Rather, I suddenly felt very sorry for many horn players who had spent so much money on their instruments, but were not enjoying them anywhere close to their full potential.

When these types of problems are eliminated, most all valves work fine with any valve oil.

Whew. I have an E. Schmid (no "t") double horn, and I never heard that about the valve bodies....it's a wonder the guy's horn played for him at all. I dump Blue Juice down the valve slides and use heavier oil (but not that much heavier) on the bearings. Schmids when well lubricated have short throw, very fast valves, that go tikka-tikka instead of clanka-clanka. I found out the hard way not to dump oil down the leadpipe....it takes a while to come out and the horn "plays funny" during the wait time, funny enough to make you wonder if you have totally lost it.

Unless of course you are talking about a Finke triple horn, which has plastic rotors and you are _not_ supposed to dump oil down them, just water. Maybe the owner got himself mixed up between brands....

MA

[Tubatoad]

My first tuba was a piston Amati, and I was sold Binak by my local music shop. That stuff has caused every valve I've put it on to bind - even when I used some as tubing oil in my rotory Cerveny, some got into a rotor and nearly siezed it completely. Had to re-wash to get it out. I switched to Hetman and have no problems with it. I'll probably try the lamp oil as tubing oil next time.

[Captain Sousie]

Clark's Viper Oil all the way baby. At least for my new horn. (B&S PT4P)

On my old horn I use 3-in-1 and Holton (a drop o' 3 then slather in Holton).
(Naked lady Conn Eb)

On my sousie for below freezing gigs I use a combo vodka and Holton. Just don't try to drink it.

It is wierd but it works.

By the way, you should see what happened to the trumpet players in my band who mixed Al Cass and Blue Juice...Heh heh.

[Mark E. Chachich]

I answered other. I use valve oil and tuning slide grease from the Baltimore Brass Company. It works and it is good stuff.

Mark

[hurricane_harry]

im surprised, no ky jelly references. for my horn im using zaja blue and for my bass bone im using zaja slide just because i can't use petrolium based oils anymore my band director said that it with my oun body chemistry was eating away at the valves or something like that.

[JayW]

Hetman works great for me. I love that he has made three different "weight" oils to match with older/newer valves. also the complete line of tuning slide grease that is made to work with his valve oils is great....they last a very long time and do not "gunk" up like so many others.

[bigboom]

I use a few drops of Marvel Wonder (a motor oil additive) as a base layer, just a few drops on each valve followed by heavy and frequent applications of lamp oil. The Marvel Wonder is supposed to act like a protective layer and isn't very good by itself but stays on the valves much longer than the lamp oil alond. I also like it because it's cheap, $3 for the Marvel Wonder, an entire quart, and around $2 for a quart of lamp oil. I like it a lot better than the $3.50 a bottle my local music store charges for Al Cass.

[chhite]

Hetman is one of my oils of choice but I have been using Reka as of late on both of my Rudi's. Three lubricants and a polish spray shipped with my F tuba and it's what they use in their shop. I've had good results with no "cross-contamination" or buildup.