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Mineral Oil and Tuba smell?

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 10:28 am
by Radar
My beater Tuba (a 3 valve 7/8th Jupiter) that I use for outside gigs like beer tents where I don't want to use a my good Tuba, or a Sousaphone (because the rest of the group are using upright bell tubas), has developed a bad odor, I don't think I've ever had a horn smell this bad (The Tuba is soaking in a tub full of water with Dawn detergent as I type this). About 6 months ago I gave the horn a good cleaning, and took the advice of an experienced player and coated the inside of the horn with mineral oil (something I had never done before) could the mineral oil be responsible for the smell I'm experiencing? Possibly it's just the combination of the beer and brats I consume while using it, but I don't have that problem with my sousaphone that gets similar treatment.

Re: Mineral Oil and Tuba smell?

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 8:05 am
by Tubamaphone
Well, as the scientific method would dictate, the mineral oil is the only variable. Any change after using dawn to clean?

Re: Mineral Oil and Tuba smell?

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 9:14 am
by Donn
I think science would also require us to put forth a plausible hypothesis. So we'd be asking him to say with a straight face that mineral oil really might be able to cause that smell. The test to confirm or falsify the hypothesis would probably require him to alternate one year with, one year without for a few years.

It sounds like this tuba may go for some time without getting played, certainly enough to get pretty dry, but if there was a lot of oil in there, it may have surrounded some aqueous slime and kept it going for a while under anaerobic conditions. I guess that's why for the authentic version of this treatment, they use milk. I'm sure that doesn't smell!

Re: Mineral Oil and Tuba smell?

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 2:08 pm
by Radar
Tubamaphone wrote:Well, as the scientific method would dictate, the mineral oil is the only variable. Any change after using dawn to clean?


The soak in dawn and a good bore brushing, did make the smell go away. I was surprised that I didn't get a lot of slime or gunk out of the horn. This is a horn that goes for long periods of time without being played.