Lacquer-safe cleaner

Type3B · Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 6:44 am Post subject: Lacquer-safe cleaner

Hello All -- What, besides dish liquid, is safe to use for cleaning the interior tubing of a trumpet? I've heard of all kinds of acids, vinegar, lemon juice, CLR, Horn Flush, etc. I want to make sure of finding something that will not harm lacquer. Thanks!
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kehaulani · Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 9:03 am Post subject:

Why don't you simply want to use dish soap?
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Jon Arnold · Heavyweight Member Joined: 07 Jan 2002 Posts: 2026

I think Dawn is a tried and true tested degreaser. If you want to try something else, I would look into the horn flush kit. I have one and like it a lot. It is especially nice for flugelhorns, cornets. The blaster can get into those hard to reach places. When I ran out of solution, I made my own with a diluted CLR. something like 25% CLR to 75% water. Worked well for me and is a home chem clean.

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Type3B · Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 2:08 pm Post subject:

The reason looking for something beyond dish soap, fine for maintaining already clean horns, may not be what I need to remove old, built-up plaque from a vintage trumpet. The main thing I'm looking for is something that will attack plaque without attacking lacquer.
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Jon Arnold · Heavyweight Member Joined: 07 Jan 2002 Posts: 2026

You could start by having it cleaned by a repair tech for a nice re-set. Then clean it regularly at home to maintain it.

That's what I would do. Ask your repair tech the best route to go for a good cleaning that won't harm the lacquer. Vintage lacquer comes off way easier than the epoxy type used today:

Crazy Finn · Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 2:56 pm Post subject:

adagiotrumpet · Heavyweight Member Joined: 31 May 2006 Posts: 906

I bought a vintage Schilke that was in otherwise good condition but obviously had not been cleaned regularly. I did not want to send it in for a chem cleaning or ultra sonic cleaning if I didn't have to. In my case the hard crud was mainly in the lead pipe. My tech suggested muriatic acid from a pool supply store but cautioned me to dilute it and be extremely careful. This did not sound good. What I ended up doing was getting a rubber cork from the hardware store and putting it in the tuning slide end of the lead pipe after placing the horn on a stand. I figured that if muriatic acid was going to work, I would first try vinegar. I then carefully filled the lead pipe with white distilled vinegar and let it soak for about 15 minutes. I was careful not to get any vinegar on the outside of the horn. I then drained the vinegar and use a very stiff round nylon brush and scrubbed the lead pipe. I had to do it three times since I didn't want to leave the vinegar in too long. By the third time, the inside of the lead pipe looked almost new.

Brad361 · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 12:00 pm Post subject:

Divitt Trumpets · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:18 pm Post subject:

Muriatic is commonly used by repair shops to clean instruments. Maybe not as much these days now that we have safer things available to us.
That being said, I would never tell a customer to use it themselves. Way too much room for dangerous mistakes.
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Brad361 · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:32 pm Post subject:

Billy B · Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 4:09 am Post subject:

CLR mixed 20:1
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