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A friend of mine cleaned out his valves the other day and said that his horn played better afterwards. I then made the following gesture:

My friend was quick to reference a thread he read here one time where someone claimed they could "fix" the low c on rotary F tubas by cleaning the leadpipe.

I couldn't find that thread, but is this true? Can a grimy leadpipe and valves really make a tuba sound bad?

If a tuba has crud in the leadpipe, then I can't imagine that the horn as a whole is in optimal.playing condition. Get it cleaned and checked out yearly.

With all due respect to the OP... this is really a dumb question.

Of course... an unobstructed air path is the best for optimal performance. That includes crap clinging to the sides of the bore.

There are a few cases where players swear that dents in spots have improved the way some notes respond but a 'squeaky-clean' horn is certainly the best place to start.

I know some pro players who haven't had their horns cleaned in years. Their tubas are flat out disgusting, yet they still sound really good!

So what is "good." Maybe not really that great. BUT... I recall 'bout 35 years ago in St. Paul, Minnesota I went to an Czech/Slovak ethnic dinner and for music was a "Slovenian" trio (button accordion, drums and tuba.) In this case an Eb Sousaphone on a stand. The "bass horn" player (as they prefer to be called) had a cigar in one hand and grunted out the bass line with hardly a sense of pitch, but OMG did he have style. A Czech friend who was with us, and recently retired from New York City Opera where he was principal horn for nearly 20 years had this to say of the performance practice of his slavic countryman. "The way to truly achieve the immigrant tuba sound is to work in the hot sun in a farm field all day, never practice and smoke cigars." Sometimes when some folks say "sounds good" has a far different meaning than to which some of us subscribe. Even now, my wife is playing some really great 'old tyme' recording from Czech Country in Minnesota on the CD player. Great tuba playing and great licks. I wish for me it was that easy to just capture that style. It ain't if its not in your blood. Sometimes I wish I could just sound "that good." To that guy with his blackened sousaphone and cigar it probably never dawned on him that a "clean horn" is a "happy horn."

My pickup runs better after the yearly washing. Much faster.

But that just might be bunk.

anonymous4 wrote:A friend of mine cleaned out his valves the other day and said that his horn played better afterwards. I then made the following gesture:

My friend was quick to reference a thread he read here one time where someone claimed they could "fix" the low c on rotary F tubas by cleaning the leadpipe.

I couldn't find that thread, but is this true? Can a grimy leadpipe and valves really make a tuba sound bad?

Care to share your two cents?

Yes. Yes, it does.

Especially if it's like really gross.

Clean your damn horn.

Might there be some situations where all the crap inside the horn is smoothing over blemishes and plugging air leaks?

...seriously though, clean out your horn now and then and have a repairman give it "the works" if it plays worse afterwards.

Might there be some situations where all the crap inside the horn is smoothing over blemishes and plugging air leaks?

I have seen that happen with some junk tubas. One in particular played pretty well until a good repair guy cleaned it. After that it was a wall-hanger. He didn't ask for any payment.

Happened to a guy here as well, with a PT6 or something. Eventually it got fixed, but lots of non cleaning both damaged and sealed the leaks... only to expose them when cleaned.

Short answer, Always Be Cleaning.

Isn't this news bit reason enough to clean your tuba?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =129725678

After getting my Hirsbrunner back from a deep sonic clean, I can absolutely say yes. Articulations are easier, it has a bit more resonance, and things seem SLIGHTY more in tune.

On the contrary, if the gunk has been there so long it is now covering holes from rot, once you clean it, it will not play as good. First person account!

It sure makes one smell better to clean it -----My Bride always tells me when mine needs cleaning..--------After cleaning my Tuba , my Tech always tells me my tube diameter has increased 50%

Germ-o-phobes should play the drums.

The late tuba legend Dr. John Richards always said that you should never clean out your horn because all the gunk patches up any leaks that may occur in the tuba.
I do believe that it is a good idea to clean out any moving parts (valves, slides, ect.) but the rest is up to debate.

Okay!! Another musing from the ol' geezer.

Seems there may be a comparison made to flushing automobile transmissions. If you get in the habit with a new car every 20 or 30K, great. Clean is good. However, (some of you may have experienced this with having to replace a transmission) when you have, say 100,000 miles or more, dislodging all the gunk creates an abrasive compound in the hydraulic fluid, and even with a flush, there is enough residue to keep grinding away at the inner workings. I learned this lesson on a vacation after a young man at the lube shop thought he was doing me a favor by throwing in a tranny flush. About 500 miles later, $6000.00 to replace, plus the inconvenience. Yes, at that point it is better to leave things be. What is the saying? "Don't shake old furniture." BUT .....

Granted, tubas and cars are not the same. On a tuba, it is much easier to flush things perfectly clean, not easy, but realistic. And tubas, at least all the ones I have seen do not have hydraulic transmission. lol. We can have compression checks performed by the repair tech before and after the flushing, and if you are serious about things, have the necessary repairs made to the leaks. If the horn was a significant investment, it would be wise to keep up on the maintenance. It will keep it feeling newer longer.

A clean horn will not automatically play better, but, it will not play the same.

After I get my horn cleaned, it plays a little too "Bright" if you ask me. A month or so of playing warms the sound back up. 2 years, personally, is the mark where its so dirty that it sounds worse.

If you ask me, its the same as when I change the strings on my bass. I need to play them for a couple days so they lose the..."crispness" of fresh strings. Then after about 6 months, you need new strings again.