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I've previously cleaned the inside of my slides with vinegar with very good results to get rid of green residue. But how you clean the entire inside of a horn with vinegar without damaging the outside silver plate or lacquer?

Aaaaannnnnnddddd.... now you know why there are professional instrument techs

But I still don't know how to chemically clean the entire inside of a tuba without damaging the outside finish in DIY fashion.

Take it to a car wash and use one of those pressure washers to blast the heck outta that gunk.

Unless the horn has really been poorly maintained, you can get away with only soaking the valve section.

By some rubber stoppers that fit in the piston casings and the at the tuning slide. Remove the pustons, but keep the slides and then flood the valve section with vinegar, or if you feel like it CLR.

Rinse with water, then baking soda ,then soap, then water.. Then rinse again..

Disassemble and be sure to remove all ferrous parts first (springs, etc. including spit valve springs). One part CLR to five parts water. Soak for 20 minutes. Rinse thoroughly. Unless your lacquer was already coming off, this won't harm it.

Great responses so far. Anyone have experience with silver horns? I'd imagine as long as there's no zinc in the copper, the acid will not harm it.

BBbmarcher wrote:Great responses so far. Anyone have experience with silver horns? I'd imagine as long as there's no zinc in the copper, the acid will not harm it.

??? Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. And 'acid' in modest amounts will harm neither. Silver-plated horns are equally safe, as long as you don't leave 'em in too long.

On second thought: maybe you should just take your horns to a technician for servicing.

UncleBeer wrote:

BBbmarcher wrote:Great responses so far. Anyone have experience with silver horns? I'd imagine as long as there's no zinc in the copper, the acid will not harm it.

??? Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. And 'acid' in modest amounts will harm neither. Silver-plated horns are equally safe, as long as you don't leave 'em in too long.

On second thought: maybe you should just take your horns to a technician for servicing.

UncleB is right, you might be overthinking this. If you do get an acid solution on the silver on your horn, t's not the end of the world. A little bit of haggerty's will get the shine back to where was before.

If you're really worried, bring it to a tech... Or, get a cheap horn and try first. Experience is a good teaching tool. After spending $30 or tools and equipment and hen $50 on a junker only to realize that it's not as simple and easy as you thought, the repair tech's fee might not seem that crazy...

YMMV

Is anyone doing this more than annually??

I've had my horns chem-cleaned once or twice a year by Matt Walters at Dillon's. In my experience, the cleaning doesn't really do much at all for the outside of the horn. It might remove some grime but it won't really remove tarnish.
Pete

58mark wrote: so maybe I'll use my new endoscope and take some before and after video

What kind did you get? I've been thinking I need one for all sorts of things.