Tuba bath

[tbn.al]

Just finished getting some ugly crap out of my horn with a bath. Just wondering.

[bububassboner]

I do it once a month but my way is a lot easier. Alexander makes these hose tips for outside hoses and for replacing the shower head. They make one that fits trombone down to tuba and one for horn and trumpet. I just attach it to the hose, plug it into the mouth pipe, pull the main tuning slide, and turn on the water. It's super easy and takes 5 minutes tops.

[bububassboner]

I do it once a month but my way is a lot easier. Alexander makes these hose tips for outside hoses and for replacing the shower head.

I have one of those. I didn't realize it could be used with a shower hose. I was going to rig it up with a garden hose by adapting diameters...

Good to know!

Yeah it works in my German shower but I don't know if it fits American hoses. Let us know if it does.

[ghmerrill]

Quick Horn Rinse: http://stores.quickhornrinse.com/. Enough said.

[hup_d_dup]

Full clean every 250 hours. That works out to about 3 times a year. (I voted quarterly which would be 4x/yr.)

Additionally, I clean the lead pipe twice between each full clean, along with flushing the 1st and 2nd valve cylinders. I generally get almost nothing out of the tuba except what comes from the lead pipe. I think frequent cleaning of the lead pipe prevents gunk from working its way deeper into the instrument. Cleaning the lead pipe is quick and easy compared to a full clean.

Hup

[ghmerrill]

Big mess. Gave it away...

I presume this was directed to the QHR. I wonder what the source of the mess is for you. I had some initial trouble with the plastic reservoir for the soap developing cracks, but that was replaced totally free of charge, and I think it was because I got the water a bit too hot.

Otherwise, I put the stand for the horn in the bath tub, put the horn in the stand, hook a 10 ft. length of garden hose onto the bathroom sink faucet (adapter), pull the main tuning slide, and go at it. Can't imagine anything could be easier. At reasonable intervals I use a bit of 409 and a trombone snake. But the whole operation takes only a few minutes and so is easy to do on a pretty frequent basis.

Before I got the QHR I had made my own flusher out of some parts from Lowes. But I like the QHR a lot better because it fits the lead pipes better, has an effective on/off valve right there, and the detergent reservoir seems to work reasonably effectively.

Just wondering what the mess could be. Maybe just a matter of what you're flushing with it?

[Dan Schultz]

One of the little 'gimmicks' I've come up with is a submersible aquarium pump and a piece of 1/2" Vinyl tubing. Pull the main slide out of the tuba and lay the horn in a tank with a few inches of water in the bottom. Shove the Vinyl tube over the receiver and drop the pump into the tank. Add some dishwashing liquid and walk away for a while. To clean the tuning circuits.... tie down one valve at a time for a while.

Then... do a clear water rinse the same way.

[ghmerrill]

I think that sort of approach is absolutely necessary for a completely thorough cleaning, or for an instrument that hasn't been cleaned in some time. My experience in cleaning my 1924 horn just after I got it was that it took four cleanings with the QHR and the trombone brush to get the old hardened gunk out of it -- particularly the lead pipe. One or two cleanings -- even with 409 and the brush -- just didn't do the trick. This is one reason I try to use the QHR every few months in order to avoid that kind of build-up. And with it, I take the same approach: warm soapy water running for a decent time through it, including each valve circuit; then a similar rinse cycle.

[Sandlapper]

One question. Does pushing a snake down the lead pipe from the receiver scratch the inside of the pipe and cause other problems later?

[tbn.al]

I thought I would post this just to get a feel for the situation. I am now convinced that I am slovenly beyond description. I will make a New Year's resolution to clean my tuba once a quarter. Waiting for my friends to comment somehow seems inappropriate after the poll. That's all I need to do right, resolve................Good!