Help on valve leakage

[Realt]

Hi Everybody,
I'm a 58 year old late starter. I played clarinet into my twenties so I have a small bit of musical knowledge. I decided to try to get back into music after reading flow by MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALY.
I bought an own brand trumpet from a large european vendor. Likely chinese made and branded in europe
While I am enjoying the challenge I am having a lot of problems centring the notes and have found water gathering in the trumpet valve caps.
From reading this forum I decided to check for leakage by
A. Removing 3rd slide, covering the upper slide tube with my finger pressing down 3rd valve and blowing - result clear hissing sound. Similar result with 1st slide
B pressing down 3rd valve pulling out 3rd slide, releasing 3 valve then pushing slide back in. Result very little resistance and I can hear air escape via horn, no pop when I then depress valve 3. Again similar result with valve 1

I've also noted lots of scratches inside the valve chamber. I've tried to post the photo below, not sure if it works.

Anyway my question is are these real issues or am I just seeing excuses for my slow progress and need to show more patience

https://flic.kr/p/2nRz682

Regards
Martin
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Martin

[JayKosta]

The valve leak you describe will result in limitations for the trumpet. BUT even with leakage, it should be possible to produce good sounds.

You might be blowing more water into the horn than is necessary.
You should not 'force' your lips to buzz - see this video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxTb2gEaTU4
about how to set your lips on the instrument and just blow gently to produce the sound.
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Most Important Note ? - the next one !
KNOW (see) what the next note is BEFORE you have to play it.
PLAY the next note 'on time' and 'in rhythm'.
Oh ya, watch the conductor - they set what is 'on time'.

[Andy Cooper]

You could try a thicker "classic" oil made for older trumpets.

Please have someone who has played trumpet for a few years try your horn with your mouthpiece. Then with their mouthpiece. If they say it plays OK, then practice, practice etc.

[Mike Prestage]

Martin, it sounds like you're probably self-teaching from what you've written but if you are getting in-person lessons it would be well worth asking your teacher to play test the horn. If you happen to know a trumpet player or two, ask them to play it and give an opinion on whether it's a viable instrument.

It won't make much of a difference if they're really leaky but it's probably worth trying thicker than average valve oil. A few different brands offer this - Yamaha's 'vintage' oil is probably the most widely available.

I'm not sure those scratches are worse than you'd find on some budget instruments with decently air tight valves - they indicate it was built very much down to a price but so are plenty of horns that work just fine for getting started.

Jay, I'll have to respectfully disagree with your points here. I don't see any correlation between the amount of water players put in to the horn and the effectiveness of their technique, and even if there was such a thing as 'too much', on a good instrument it wouldn't be collecting in the valve caps. I also don't think it's a safe assumption that the horn is airtight enough to be a functional beginner's instrument. It may well be, but it's worth bearing in mind that valves can only leak so much before they make the horn seriously difficult to play.

Mike

[Realt]

Thanks all for taking the time out to reply.

Jay,
Thanks for the link. Notes above Middle C were hard for me to get, not buzzing made them much easier to reach and hold. Though they did start to get crackly after a while, I guess due to lip fatigue more than anything else.

Andy/Mike,
I am starting lessons I hope this week, I'll get my tutor to check out my trumpet.
I'll try classic oil also to see if that helps.

I'll post how things go here.

Regards
Martin
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Martin