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What are your maintenance tips and tricks?
Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 3:41 am
by Coffeescar
I just ordered a Tuba of my own, having not played Tuba in nearly a decade, and was wondering if there is I should look out for, or if any of you tips on keeping the horn in the best possible working order?
Re: What are your maintenance tips and tricks?
Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 10:34 am
by opus37
Get a quick horn rinse device and rinse out your home regularly. Have your horn professionally cleaned inside yearly and have the valve alinement checked at the same time. Oil your valves every time you play (assuming a piston valve horn). Treat your mouthpiece with respect. It is more fragile than you think. Brush your teeth before playing. Wipe your horn down after each use and empty the spit valve before you put it away. Never place your horn standing up on the bell (you are asking for it to be knocked over).
Re: What are your maintenance tips and tricks?
Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 10:39 am
by PMeuph
Dawn dish soap is your friend, I clean pistons and slides every season off with it to remove the gunk.
Re: What are your maintenance tips and tricks?
Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:55 pm
by Coffeescar
bloke wrote:Buy a half gallon jug of ultrapure lamp oil from a local store or via Amazon (main ingredient in the vast majority of valve oils), and run it generously through the instrument quite regularly.
Oily interior surfaces (vs. simply "damp") discourage the buildup of lime, and - during the break-in period - as brass oxide (brown tarnish) is forming on all the interior moving parts, generous oiling assists in scuffing down that (forms prickly) brass oxide to nice smooth-running surfaces.
As lime can cause red-rot, if your tuba's mouthpipe tube is regular yellow brass, be sure and run the oil through it as well.
Buying a jug will keep your per-oz. cost down to cents, instead of (as with valve oil) dollars.
How do you run it through? I doubt pouring it through the lead pipe and rotating the horn would work that well. Do you use a snake dipped in oil?
Also just to clarify by ultrapure lamp oil, do you mean paraffin oil like
https://www.amazon.com/Lamplight-Ultra- ... B005CBWIMK" target="_blank
Re: What are your maintenance tips and tricks?
Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 10:34 am
by Dan Schultz
As Bloke already pointed out.... don't spare the oil.
Also... as a routine... keep all of your tuning slides greased and push them all the way in once every few days. When slides are left out even a small bit... gunk builds up in the exposed portion in the inside of the outer tubes. Then... ou f the slide is pushed in further than normal it becomes stuck.
Teachers should teach their students to push and pull their slides every time they take their horn out if the case.