Insect in valve

[Wyvern]

I was playing gig today and had intermittently sticking 4th valve and when there was convenient moment took the valve out to oil to only find live insect inside the valve. I was using 'non-toxic' valve oil. I think another time I will use toxic oil to kill the bugs!

[MaryAnn]

Bleah.

[Lectron]

There's probably a nest in the small bottom bow
One of them took the wrong turn

[hubert]

Perhaps "fatal attraction" because you played The Bumblebee, Jonathan?
Hubert

[opus37]

I was playing gig today and had intermittently sticking 4th valve and when there was convenient moment took the valve out to oil to only find live insect inside the valve. I was using 'non-toxic' valve oil. I think another time I will use toxic oil to kill the bugs!

I'm not sure I would want to have a toxic valve oil. A good flush of the horn may be warranted. Besides many cultures eat bugs as a protein source. Not very appealing to me, but in a pinch.......

[Donn]

Next time, photos would be helpful.

[Wyvern]

It was alive and actually flew off as soon as I took the valve out.

I am sure it had crawled in through leadpipe. Other insects of that type were seen around.

It is just the strangest reason I have found for sticking valve!

[EMC]

It was alive and actually flew off as soon as I took the valve out.

I am sure it had crawled in through leadpipe. Other insects of that type were seen around.

It is just the strangest reason I have found for sticking valve!

this reminds me of an instance in middle school.... Where a dead rat was found in the Bugle of an old Yamaha....

[ghmerrill]

Those of us who live in the southeastern US are fully aware of the determination of a wide variety of bugs to get into problematic places. Basically, if there is a hole or recess accessible to them, some bug will get in there and probably set up a nest. In places like barns and outbuildings they particularly like the recess for the grounding prong of 3-prong electrical outlets. They also love a whole bunch of places on tractors, fuse/breaker boxes, telephone junction boxes, well pressure switches, etc. (My well pump is tripping its breaker and tomorrow I will be seeing if some critter has decided over the winter -- we only use the well for garden watering -- to set up shop in the pressure switch relay.)

I remind you that the origin of the term "bug" in reference to computer programs comes from a similar incident (circa 1947?) in which the Eniac computer ceased functioning correctly, and the problem was traced to a moth caught in a mechanical relay.

[Donn]

There was a moth, but the etymology of "bug" goes back much further. Hopper liked the story because it was funny - as a bug, the moth was a sort of pun.

'Bugs' -- as such little faults and difficulties are called -- show themselves and months of intense watching, study and labor are requisite before commercial success or failure is certainly reached.

That was from a letter Edison wrote in 1878. We don't know why we call them bugs, we just do. Maybe from "bugbear", word borrowed from Welsh.

[Three Valves]

Try not to confuse etymology with entomology!!

[pgym]

Try not to confuse etymology with entomology!!

The WordPerfect spell-checker always tried to substitute "entomology" whenever I typed "etymology."

That really bugged me.