Trumpet maintenance: to bathe or not to bathe

[ShishakTIU]

All the way to the end of college I was told that I was supposed to give my trumpet a warm bath in soapy water. Snake the spit gunk out of it, brush out the mouthpiece, and--since I have a silver plated horn--polish it with nonabrasive silver polish. Then grease up the slides with slide grease, oil the valves with valve oil and get back to work with a nice, clean, shiny, horn.

Then I start making a mini-comeback, sign up with Bugles across America, and decide to clean my trumpet. I poke around the Interwebs some and find a rather emphatic site that says that you should NOT bathe your trumpet in warm bathwater like I was told, and which you will find on many a trumpet maintenance page.

Ultrasonic/Acid Bath is the way to go, these sites say. The gunk inside the horn is hard water (and local water is groundwater so is VERY hard indeed), and soap will do nothing except possibly make the problem worse.

So I'm putting it out to the community to weigh in. Is it NOT a good idea to bathe your brass baby, or is it still a good idea?

Ultimately, I've decided to go ahead and let the local music store professionally clean it with the full ultrasonic/acid bath treatment. I never had that done once in my dedicated performance years. For those of you who have had a trumpet cleaned professionally, what should I expect? How does it affect operation and/or sound of the horn?

Music store said it won't affect the basic sound. They said that it should make the valves work smoother and the air to flow better. I'd just like some testimonials.

[LittleRusty]

I wonder how the hard water deposits in the horn happen. Most of what goes through my horn is saliva, which is secreted by the saliva glands. It will not have the minerals and contaminants that your drinking water has since the body have filtered them out.

I highly doubt that the hardness of your household water has any effect on the inside of your horn. I live in an area where I have to treat my pool anytime I add tap water due to hardness and I have never had any issue with my trumpets.

I am sure that if one does not keep the horn clean, ultrasonic can clean the horn thoroughly, but if the horn is always kept clean there shouldn't be much in the horn to clean out and the bath should be good enough.

I am curious what other responses you will receive.

[Croquethed]

It doesn't hurt to soak it in warm water and Dawn once a month (except the valves, of course, can't get the felts wet). It's akin to changing the oil in your car or lubing the chain on your bike. Preventive maintenance. I don't have hard water problems, but everything gets snaked out with a BrassSaver swab after an hour-long soak and good shake in the water. I may get a little green piece about the size of a fingernail come out.

Every year to 18 months, I take it to one of the premier shops in the nation, Osmun Music, for a chem bath and general expert look-over. They've never told me I had a colony growing in the horn.

Some people swab out the leadpipe after every time, blow oil through it, etc. My horn has nickel silver leadpipe and slides so I am not that worried about red rot. I may sawb it out every two weeks or so if I see a lot of stuff in there.

The task is also very therapeutic.

[Richard III]

Chem cleaning vs. ultrasonic. I've had both. In fact I had the chem one place and the ultrasonic at another place on the same horn. The ultrasonic found all the crap the chem didn't seem to find. Huge difference. The chem seems a waste of time to me. An expensive waste too. Once ultrasonically cleaned, an occasionally flushing with water seems to produce nothing of note. That tells me that if it's really clean, the everyday stuff that we produce is minimal. But then I'm not a kid blowing my lunch through the horn every day.
_________________
Richard

Conn 22B Trumpet
York Eminence Model 4028 Cornet
1903 Conn The Wonder Cornet

[trumpetlane]

When a shop gives a horn a chem clean, the last thing they do to it is brush it out with Dawn and rinse it with water (before they they dry it with an air compressor)! Giving it a bath at home is a good thing (as long as you are careful and gentle). Water won't hurt a horn. You can also clean the valves as long as you take off the felts. Always clean your mouth and your hands before you play!
_________________
Gregory Lindquist
Educator, Conductor, Performer

Bb - XO 1602S-R
C - Jupiter XO 1624s
D - Yamaha YTR-751
Cornet - Yamaha YCR-231
Flugel - Getzen 895 Eterna
Pic - Getzen 940 Eterna w/ Blackburn leadpipes
Stork Vacchiano Mouthpieces

[Daniel Barenboim]

[Ed Kennedy]

The bath and snaking gets the slimey spooge out. Gigs and beer will cause a build-up and the stuff comes loose and hangs up the valves as well as reducing the bore size of your instrument. Do your leadpipe and tuning slide once a week and you will find your horn stays cleaner longer.

Ed K Schilke trained brass tech.

[JoseLindE4]

I give my horn a bath when I want to add a few dents. I have it professionally cleaned when I want to lose a 5th on my range.

[Nonsense Eliminator]

The only reasons not to give your horn a bath are (1) you are a spaz and will break something or (2) you feel like helping pay for your repair guy's boat.
_________________
Richard Sandals
NBO

[trpthrld]

One of these will always help keep your horn clean & performance ready!

www.trumpetherald.com/marketplace.php?task=detail&id=101533&s=The-Best-Damn-Trumpet-Lead-Pipe-Swab-Period-


_________________
Tim Wendt

www.trumpetherald.com/marketplace.php?task=detail&id=146827&s=The-Best-Trumpet-Lead-Pipe-Swab-EVER--

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPWAJqghk24&feature=youtu.be

[trickg]

For regular maintenance, bathe the horn as normal - warm water, snake it out, etc.

If it has been years and years, or if the horn is particularly dirty, an ultrasonic cleaning will knock stuff loose that you probably won't get with the standard mild soap, snakes and brushes.

I recently purchased a used Bach Strad that was pretty danged dirty, so I had it ultrasonically cleaned. Once I started using it, additional stuff continued to break loose, so I did a normal bathe on it.

I'm the guy who almost never takes a horn in to a shop for any kind of cleaning, but I do regularly clean my horns out. I took in a horn I'd used for about a decade to have it ultrasonically cleaned and checked over prior to selling it, and my tech said that it had remarkably little in it, so the standard brush/warm soapy water will certainly work for a good bit. It should also be noted that I play my horns quite a bit - I gig regularly.
_________________
Patrick Gleason
- Jupiter 1600i, ACB 3C, Warburton 4SVW/Titmus RT2
- Brasspire Unicorn C
- ACB Doubler

"95% of the average 'weekend warrior's' problems will be solved by an additional 30 minutes of insightful practice." - PLP

[thomasmarriott]

Personally, I give my horn a bath at home at least twice a month. It takes all of 20 minutes to disassemble, clean and scrub, dry, lube and reassemble.
_________________
www.thomasmarriott.net

[HornnOOb]

A trumpet bath is the way to go. Every 2-3 months of steady playing:

Prepare a warm (no hot) water with Dawn or Joy. If neither one is available, call Mary or Jennifer. (A little trumpet maintenance humor.)

Use a Rubbermaid type tub - one large enough for the main horn, and a smaller one for the valves and smaller components. (Or if you use the kitchen sink, place a folded towel over the bottom of the sink.)

Let soak for about 30-40 minutes. (Remove finger buttons, felts from valves.)

Once soaked, use a snake brush to run down the bell all the way to the 3rd valve casing and work back and forth / in and out. Same for the lead-pipe and tuning slides. Use larger brush on valve casings. Rinse in soapy water and quickly repeat. Next run temped clear tap water down all horn piping - rinse horn thoroughly - inside and out. After rinsing horn, turn your attention to the valves and smaller parts which should be still soaking in their own smaller tub.

Use a brush and run back and forth in the valve ports and then use a wash cloth to clean the exterior of the valves. Rinse each item with clear water and set to dry.

Pat dry horn with soft, clean terry cloth towel and set to air dry. (I set everything at angles to allows residual water to drain down and out.) When putting everything back together, use slide lube on slides and valve oil on valves and on the springs.) Try to coil the springs while holding them tight so you can oil the entire spring easily with a single application of oil.) Brush inside of MP shank and clean MP with soapy water and rinse. Place a drop of valve oil on the threads of valve caps - top and bottom. Put a small drop of valve oil on each water valve spring and cork. Lightly buff dry horn with clean micro fiber cloth.

When horn is back together, run about 9 drops +- of valve oil down the lead pipe and blow through horn - playing scales or something. Drain remaining oil.
_________________
I rode in on a horse and can't seem to get out of L.A.

Severinsen Destino 3*
1971 Getzen Eterna 900S Severinsen Model
1984 Getzen Eterna 896 Flugelhorn
1951 Olds Special Cornet

Denis Wick 1C Heavytop
Getzen Flugel 3C

[dstdenis]

Washing the horn is still a good idea.
_________________
Bb Yamaha Xeno 8335IIS
Cornet Getzen Custom 3850S
Flugelhorn Courtois 155R
Piccolo Stomvi

[Brad361]

I use Tim’s leadpipe swab after every playing, don’t blow a lot of junk (food, beer, etc.) into the horn (yeah, even on a gig. I don’t go as far as Mr. Schilke did and walk around with a toothbrush on a holster, but pretty close!), and give it the dish soap bath every 2-3 months. I SELDOM see anything come out in the bath water. I also use a big plastic tub in the bathtub, lessens the chances of fumbling and damaging a valve or slide. Of course that didn’t help the ONE time I was walking out of the bathroom and DROPPED A VALVE ON THE TILE FLOOR. Doctor Valve to the rescue.

Brad
_________________
When asked if he always sounds great:
"I always try, but not always, because the horn is merciless, unpredictable and traitorous." - Arturo Sandoval

[Croquethed]

[cheiden]

Bathe the horn. Done properly I don't believe any harm can come from it. I have it cleaned at a shop only rarely or if I feel that I've gotten too far behind in my regular maintenance.

The horn really needs to be cleaned every month to two and I don't know anyone who thinks it makes sense to pay a shop to chem/ultrasonic it that often. I'm deeply suspicious of the motivation of anyone suggesting chem/ultrasonic for every single cleaning.
_________________
"I'm an engineer, which means I think I know a whole bunch of stuff I really don't."
Charles J Heiden/So Cal
Bach Strad 180ML43*/43 Bb/Yamaha 731 Flugel/Benge 1X C/Kanstul 920 Picc/Conn 80A Cornet
Bach 3C rim on 1.5C underpart

[LittleRusty]

[Grits Burgh]

Tim Wendt posted:

[Crazy Finn]