Having to oil your valves is not a "bad" thing....

Mr.Hollywood · Heavyweight Member Joined: 14 Dec 2002 Posts: 1730

One of the finest repairmen in the world Rob Stewart told me that one of the best things that you can do for your horn is to oil the valves AFTER your playing is done, right before you retire the horn to the case.

He said that the oil coats, and protects the valves while they "sit" in the casings, PLUS....it displaces and dilutes all the saliva that has built up on the valves after a gig or long practice session and keeps it from "etching" (eating into) the casings.

Here's another good thing.......some of that oil finds its way into the rest of the horn and protects that from the acids in saliva.

This is one of the reasons that I never used synthetic oil, because its not good for the horn to go days and days without regular oiling. Valves need more than just a "drop", they need to be "coated" to be protected from the corrosive acids in human saliva. Using a healthy amount of oil helps to "flush" out that saliva.

For those of you who don't know who Rob Stewart is, he is the brass repairman to the "stars". Chuck Findley, Doc Severinsen, Rick Baptist, Bill Watrous and Walt Johnson are just a few of the guys who have used him. He also builds Civil War replica instruments (opheclides, and keyed bugles) from scratch!!!!

Chris

BigBadWolf · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 5:45 pm Post subject:

Robb not Rob
_________________
Kevin

Mr.Hollywood · Heavyweight Member Joined: 14 Dec 2002 Posts: 1730

OK ROBB.
And I was afraid that nobody would know who he was..........

Chris

Trumpet Dude

Tom LeCompte · Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 8:20 am Post subject:

Chris-

I've been doing that for years and years and years. My Bach is 25+ years old, and still has valves in like new shape. More importantly, once I started doing this, the valves never, ever hang up on me.

Is it because its better for the valves sitting in fresh oil as opposed to liquid nastiness? Or is it simply because they are oiled more often? I couldn't say. At some level, it doesn't matter - if I do X, I get result Y.

Considering that a bottle of valve oil lasts until I loan it to someone and don't get it back, it doesn't even cost anything.

Cheers,

Tom

PS Ever play a keyed bugle? That's about the hardest instrument I have ever tried to play.