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Flugel maintenance



 
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mikepodorski
Regular Member


Joined: 25 Jul 2020
Posts: 34

PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 6:39 pm    Post subject: Flugel maintenance Reply with quote

I'm a stickler for maintenance so I can keep my horns in great shape for years to come. I'm always concerned about red rot. I swab the leadpipe/tuning slide on my trumpet daily to keep everything clean and dry. Is there a method to keep a Flugelhorn dry? I do my best to swab out the lead pipe. I don't have a good method to swab the bell since it's so long. I don't seem to get much out of the water keys (1st, 3rd, and bell) while playing compared to my trumpet either. What can I do to make sure this horn lasts a long time? Thanks in advance!
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huntman10
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 30 Aug 2017
Posts: 672
Location: Texas South Plains

PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You don't say if you play the flugelhorn regularly, or not. I have a very large collection of horns, and most of them don't get played often enough. If I have a horn that has been played, even briefly, I usually pull at least the main slide or perhaps all slides, swab the leadpipe and main slide, and let it sit for at least overnight on a stand in my "office" room. If I am putting a horn away for a while, I pull and swab out the slides, lube them, and leave them out in the case with a cloth over them to keep them from rattling around in the case.

Right now I have 2 E flats, 3 Conn Cornets, and a Schilke X3 sitting on stands in here, since I have been comparison playing. Needless to say, I don't have little kids or pets running around any more, and the cleaning lady stays out of this room, unless I get it secured first. And I am very careful walking round in here, as well When I was responsible for the storage room for our brass band, I would pull the valves or slides from the band's extra flugelhorn and some of the other instruments before storing them away for the season so they would dry out.
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huntman10
Collector/Player of Fine (and not so fine) Brass Instruments including
Various Strads, Yammies, Al Hirt Courtois, Schilkes,
Selmer 25, Getzen Eternas, Kanstuls (920 Pic, CG)
Martin Custom Large Bore, Lots Olds!, Conns, etc.
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furcifer
Veteran Member


Joined: 24 May 2014
Posts: 155
Location: Texas

PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Red rot happens almost exclusively in leadpipes, and not so much on flugels because they just don't get played as much as trumpets. So it's not really about water sitting further down in the horn. Pull a snake through the leadpipe of a flugel about monthly and it should be OK. On a trumpet, I snake the main tuning slide, as well. (I do the full cleaning about every six months) Another thing you can do is swab with valve oil, or at least let some run down the leadpipe where the moisture collects and runs anyway. Another good thing to use are the Herco Spitballs through the whole horn, about once a month. Blow it through twice with all the valves up and about 5 or 6 times with all the valves down, and then flush the horn with water.

I got my Getzen flugel new in 1985. I've carried it in my triple bag to 2 and 3 rehearsals a week over the last five years alone. I usually at least warm up on it once or twice a week. I've found that it needs a snake pulled through it just as often as my main trumpet - about monthly - even if I only warm up or play it on one or two charts every other week or so - compared to some 40 hours on the trumpet in that same time period. The build-up of bio-film is clearly not directly related to the amount of playing being done beyond a certain minimum.

Also, I usually don't eat before I play, but I drink black coffee constantly. I especially avoid sugar.

Horns that get red rot are generally of two kinds: Those that are almost never cleaned, and those that got built with some inferior brass alloy of some sort that were more prone to "de-zincification" in some spots than most others, and so it was more or less inevitable. There have been certain production runs of certain trumpet brands/models over the years that have become rather infamous for this - but I have never heard of any flugel models like that.
_________________
Stomvi S3 Big Bell -2018
Bach 180ST37 -'80
Benge CG -'78
Buescher LP 9 -1926
Getzen 896S-4 flugel -'86
Conn 18H bone -'64
Getzen M2003E Bb/G bugle
Getzen Titleist 2v soprano G -'79
King K-50 G mellophone
Henri Gautier Cornet C/Bb/A -1919
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