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HornnOOb Heavyweight Member
Joined: 06 Jun 2010 Posts: 897 Location: East of the Sun & West of the Moon
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 3:25 pm Post subject: Clean Your Leadpipe!! |
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Seems obvious, but good grief! I bathe my trumpet regulary and assumed that the lead pipe was properly cleaned with a few swipes down the tube with a snake brush followed by a jet of cler water. WRONG!
For the past 3-4 weeks, I've noticed that my playing was sounding a bit stuffy and there seemed to be more resistance in the blow than is usual. Having just given the horn a bath, I had no reason suspect anyting inside the horn was amiss.
Well, today, I took a bright LED light and took a good hard look down the leadpipe. Instead of the clean, polished & shinny look is should have, I noticed that the interrior of the pipe was more or less a dull coated apearance. I thought this was strange due to the recent bath and brief brushing I gave it. Anywho, I ran a twisted paper towel swab down the pipe and it returned with some faint green residue. A light bulb moment insued and I decided to brush the crap out of the leadpipe.
I sprayed some Simple Green solution down the pipe and let it soak for about 10 minutes. I then took my snake brush and brushed the length of the pipe for several minutes. I then ran clean water to wash out what ever came loose. I then used the twisted paper towel swab to dry in out.
After replacing the tuning slide, I put some valve oil down the pipe and blew it through the horn. The difference in my intonation and the free-blowing nature of my trumpet was simply amazing. What I thought was me and my tired chops, turn out to be a lightly (barely noticeable) dirty leadpipe. After thoroughly cleaning it, my horn played and sounded like it did when it was brand new!
My hunch is that a lot of players who are wondering about their tone quality, might do well to scrub the crap out of their leadpipe -- even if it looks generally clean. From this point on, I intend to swab-out my leadpeipe after every playing. I makes a hell of a difference!! _________________ 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 |
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dmc60 New Member
Joined: 06 May 2019 Posts: 3 Location: Georgia
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Posted: Sun May 12, 2019 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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I'm surprised no one in 8 years commented about this post.
I just cleaned an old Imperial leadpipe with bore paste, then rifle bore wire brush, then many swabs with a piece of cotton patch, then a cotton patch with valve oil. Looks nice and clean, and seems to play with nicer intonation, and much less effort. _________________ Martin Imperial
Holton T602P
Having a lot of fun making noise, and learning about the pioneers, and current makers of Brass and String Instruments. |
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mrhappy Veteran Member
Joined: 03 Dec 2018 Posts: 371 Location: Port Jackson, NY
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Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 6:22 am Post subject: |
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dmc60 wrote: | I'm surprised no one in 8 years commented about this post.
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Guess they're all busy cleaning their leadpipes!! _________________ MH |
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dmc60 New Member
Joined: 06 May 2019 Posts: 3 Location: Georgia
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Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 6:42 am Post subject: |
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Lol...
I think that this topic is covered on another thread or two. :lol _________________ Martin Imperial
Holton T602P
Having a lot of fun making noise, and learning about the pioneers, and current makers of Brass and String Instruments. |
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kehaulani Heavyweight Member
Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 9143 Location: Hawai`i - Texas
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Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 7:40 am Post subject: |
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Even though old, topical subject. Would anyone know why it wouldn't have been cleaned with just a snake/ _________________ "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
"Well, even if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn't play like Wynton." Chet Baker
Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Selmer K-Modified Light Trumpet (for sale)
Benge 3X Cornet |
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Don Herman rev2 'Chicago School' Forum Moderator
Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 8974 Location: Monument, CO
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Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 9:51 am Post subject: |
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A soft snake may not (will not IME) remove harder deposits in the leadpipe (and the rest of the tubing) that are basically "cemented" to the tube. Like scale on a sink or water pipe, or plaque on teeth, usually requires a hard brush (not recommended for a trumpet) or a chemical to dissolve them.
IME/IMO - Don _________________ "After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music" - Aldous Huxley |
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dmc60 New Member
Joined: 06 May 2019 Posts: 3 Location: Georgia
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Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 10:33 am Post subject: |
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Don H,
I agree with your comment.
I suppose a lengthy soak in CLR might be in order for some of these neglected horns. ( I read That this was used successfully on another thread here at TH, and the people commenting are evidently veterans in the experience of wind instruments.) I think the problem is that more people including myself haven’t considered the accumulation that can occur in a wind instrument if not aggressively cleaned on a fairly regular basis.
I think the trick is to remove the deposits on the internal surfaces without destroying the instrument.
I for one will be undertaking some monthly or at a very minimum quarterly deep cleaning efforts. _________________ Martin Imperial
Holton T602P
Having a lot of fun making noise, and learning about the pioneers, and current makers of Brass and String Instruments. |
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lanzoar New Member
Joined: 02 Jun 2019 Posts: 4 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2019 4:36 am Post subject: |
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When I first started playing It was on an old cornet that hadn't been washed in years (possibly ever). I gave it to my band instructor who said it was all good to go. Obviously 5th grade me didn't know any better and played on it for a year after.
Then I got a competent teacher that noticed I was having a bit of trouble staying in tune and whatnot. He did a once over on it and almost puked. He paid out of pocket to have it deep cleaned for me. My playing improved so much over the next month that my band instructor asked me to audition for the honor band. |
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