Old Horn, Stuck Slides

[dmh737]

I just picked up an old trumpet with stuck slides. I am afraid to just clamp it and pull. Is there a solution I can soak it in that may penetrate and make it easier to pull? I've soaked stuck Amado valves in a simple soap solution and they freed up.

I didn't know if there were any tricks out there that I could try. The finish is gone and I paid very little for it so I can try pretty much anything.

Thanks!

Dave
_________________
Trumpet - LA Benge 3X+
Mouthpiece - Callet VF DT 10 top
Ken Titmus KTRT6 Backbore
flat.io

[LittleRusty]

Use google to search the TM website. Believe it or not the subject can stir quite a bit of debate.

[dmh737]

I used the search function here but couldn't find anything. I'll try to Google it. Thanks!
_________________
Trumpet - LA Benge 3X+
Mouthpiece - Callet VF DT 10 top
Ken Titmus KTRT6 Backbore
flat.io

[Cadenza]

You will receive a number of suggestions on TrumpetHerald about various types of penetrating oil, putting the horn in the fridge, and so on. These suggestions will be very useful, and you may find one that works for your horn.

One common theme in many of these techniques is that you'll need to put traction (outward pull) on each stuck slide, and this is typically done by passing a fabric item (like a towel) through each slide's crook and pulling steadily on the fabric. As you do this, you will want to be certain that you don't place another part of your horn in a death-grip and inadvertently bend another slide out of alignment.

Don't ask me how I know about this . . .

[Maarten van Weverwijk]

"Everything you've always wanted to know about removing stuck slides,
but were afraid to ask." :
http://www.musictrader.com/removingstuckslides.PDF

MvW.

[Retlaw]

[plankowner110]

My local repair technicians say they love it when people try to do their own brass repairs, because it turns into a bigger job for the techs when people bust up their horns! This happens quite often.
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C. G. Conn 60B Super Connstellation
Getzen 800S Eterna cornet
Bach 5C (Jens Lindemann is right)
https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26763

[davidkoch]

I've found that for stuck slides, a sharp motion does more than a constant pull. In fact the constant pull will be more likely to bend stuff.

The article Maarten posted is still loading for me, but if he posted it, it's most likely good.


What I like to do for stuck slides is, get some valve oil on the slide and let it sit. Then, take a piece of wicking, or something about that material. Loop it around the crook, and put the wicking in a vice. Small, light, sharp motions will do much more than one large yank. If that doesn't work, then you have to take the knuckle off and pull each tube manually.

Try this at your own risk!
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Hi, my name is David and I'm a trumpetaholic.

[dmh737]

This always happens when you ask a repair question. I DO support my local tech. I actually had another horn in the shop last week for some joint work. I am really good at minor repairs & cleaning/buffing. Any dent work or soldering where if matters I always take to my tech. I have access through my work to a broad array of cleaners and solvents so I figured why not ask the question. And the link was very helpful. Thank you!

Any other ideas?
_________________
Trumpet - LA Benge 3X+
Mouthpiece - Callet VF DT 10 top
Ken Titmus KTRT6 Backbore
flat.io

[Maarten van Weverwijk]

[VetPsychWars]

After I bent in half some tubing on an extremely rare Buescher M1892 bugle, I no longer even attempt stuck slides. That's what Charlie Melk down the street is for.

Tom
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1950 Buescher Lightweight 400 Trumpet
1949 Buescher 400 Trumpet
1939 Buescher 400 Cornet
GR65M, GR65 Cor #1

[yourbrass]

"What I like to do for stuck slides is, get some valve oil on the slide and let it sit. Then, take a piece of wicking, or something about that material. Loop it around the crook, and put the wicking in a vice. Small, light, sharp motions will do much more than one large yank. If that doesn't work, then you have to take the knuckle off and pull each tube manually."

This is good advice. The slide that no amateur should attempt is the tuning slide, or any wide span slide. The crook will bend before you get any slide movement, and then it's doubly difficult for a repairman to round again.

Penetrating oil, such as WD40, or Ferree's corrosion cracker, should be used to soak the part previous to trying a pull.

I once had a Schilke trumpet in the shop that the player never cleaned, and I mean NEVER! I soaked the whole body in the Ferree's C.C. for two weeks before I unsoldered the crooks and pulled all the slides. The third slide was scary, as it's a long span and the margin for error is really small. I succeeded but sweated.

[ChopsGone]

There's never enough room in the freezer, so I stick with the penetrating oil/shop towel/vice method. Maybe a bit of gentle heat, and/or rubbing with a piece of ice, and maybe a bit of gentle tapping with a small rawhide mallet, but that's about it. If that fails, it goes to the shop. Some well-equipped repair techs even have sets of felt-faced wooden forms to fit inside many common slide shapes, so that they can exert more force with the mallet without deforming the tubing. I guess you could buy a set; I've seen them listed. But I think I'll let the tech do anything beyond the run-of-the-mill stubborn slide.
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Vintage Olds & Reynolds & Selmers galore
Aubertins, Bessons, Calicchios, Courtois, Wild Things, Marcinkiewicz, Ogilbee Thumpet, DeNicola Puje, Kanstuls....

[etc-etc]

The title of this thread should do well as a name for a Dixie tune.

[dmh737]

1st and 2nd slides came loose using WD-40 & heat. The main & 3rd won't budge. I've tried Heat, Freezing, WD-40, more heat, more cold, more heat, more cold, lightly tapping, more WD-40, more heat, more cold, more tapping, etc.........

I guess it's time to take it to a tech.
_________________
Trumpet - LA Benge 3X+
Mouthpiece - Callet VF DT 10 top
Ken Titmus KTRT6 Backbore
flat.io

[KansasTrumpet]

[philosofriend]

If you anticipate continuing to unstick slides you might want to buy the special pliers-looking tool that Ferrees makes. It allows you to put a hardened steel thin ring all the way around the stuck slide. You have a screw to minutely adjust the ring so that it is tight on the stuck slide but not crushing the tubing. You hold the horn in your lap and smack the pliers with a rawhide hammer (or a wooden or rubber mallett). You switch from one tube to the other, and keep applying the corrosion cracker. The taps with the hammer go straight and exactly parallel to the way that the slide will be moving.
I've never had this thing fail. I bought it after two weeks of trying all the tricks mentioned on a beautiful ancient horn that had probably never had its slides out once since it was made fifty years ago. Ten minutes after the UPS man brought me the pliers, all three slides were out.
Since the horn is loose in your lap, all the violence of the gentle taps on the pliers goes only against the slides. With other methods it is very easy to bend whatever part of the horn you are holding onto. Once I even warped a valve casing so bad the valve started sticking after trying to angrily unstick a slide.

[dmh737]

WooHoo!!!!!!! I got em"! I learned a trick from a fellow TH'er that worked great. I can't reveal his trade secret to the general public. Sorry.

The WD-40 got replaced by PB Blaster, which as all of you probably know is night and day. Unfortunately the top of the main tuning slide was already loose when I got the horn. I'll need to do some soldering to get the top tube out. Hopefully I'll have time to get to that this weekend.

Thanks for all the great info. MUCH APPRECIATED!

Dave
_________________
Trumpet - LA Benge 3X+
Mouthpiece - Callet VF DT 10 top
Ken Titmus KTRT6 Backbore
flat.io

[mffan]