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I've used these in the trumpet, but never in a tuba. They might be of some use to coat your leadpipe with oil, something that is often recommended for trumpets and should be of some benefit in a tuba, too. However, I would think you could do a better job of cleaning the tubing through the valves with a snake and some long handled bottle brushes. On my Besson 3+1 there is some tubing beyond that that is going to be difficult to reach with any snake outside of one for plumbing, which might scratch, so rinsing out is the only option, and a professional cleaning once in a while, I guess. A lot of the tubing that is unreachable is fairly large bore, so getting every last particle off the walls may not be that important.

Just some ideas.

I can't imagine 'spit balls' doing much good in a tapered (conical) horn. Once you get past the lead-pipe and through the valve cluster if you're lucky, the spitball won't be doing much good. Since it would no longer be in contact with the tapered tubing, the air you blow would probably go around the ball. I'm feeling dizzy just thinking about that

I think a better way to go (if not for a professional cleaning) would be to get the Brass Saver for Tuba.

Don't forget to blow. Don't suck!

Years ago, during my younger days, I decided to try these things out. I really was not impressed with them as a cleaning helper, but they did cause a tad bit of ruckus during a rehearsal. During a tacet slow mvt. in who knows what piece at this point, I showed the B. Trbn. player these things. I hadn't tried them yet, so I thought I would give it a quick test. Well, I inserted one into the leadpipe, took out the main tuning slide and gave it a blast. Stuck. I tried a bunch more times, but still stuck. Now, I was getting a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to play in the next mvt.. I put the tuning slide in only one side, and sitting the horn between my legs, I blew down into the the other half of the tuning slide. I thought I had my hand over the leadpipe, but that little spitball shot right into the trumpet section. Thank God we were on the same team.

Don't try this in rehearsal.

SPerry wrote:Years ago, during my younger days, I decided to try these things out. I really was not impressed with them as a cleaning helper, but they did cause a tad bit of ruckus during a rehearsal. During a tacet slow mvt. in who knows what piece at this point, I showed the B. Trbn. player these things. I hadn't tried them yet, so I thought I would give it a quick test. Well, I inserted one into the leadpipe, took out the main tuning slide and gave it a blast. Stuck. I tried a bunch more times, but still stuck. Now, I was getting a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to play in the next mvt.. I put the tuning slide in only one side, and sitting the horn between my legs, I blew down into the the other half of the tuning slide. I thought I had my hand over the leadpipe, but that little spitball shot right into the trumpet section. Thank God we were on the same team.

Don't try this in rehearsal.

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