CLEAN YOUR HORN!

flugelgirl

So, as I work from my home shop cleaning up some nasty, dirty horns from our most recent estate buy, this seems like a great time to send out this message. Just a little PSA from your friendly neighborhood brass tech, your horns are probably overdue for a cleaning, and this down time is a perfect time to take care of that! Even if you don’t have to worry about virus exposure right now, your horn and mouthpiece are probably carrying more gunk and germs than you realize. If you happen to be one of those people who buys a horn off Shopgoodwill or Ebay or such and plays them before you clean them, you may want to quit that practice. Trumpets are so easy to clean at home, and not only will you end up with a better playing instrument that will give you more years of service, but also keep yourself safe from any germs they may be harboring. I’m really glad I’ve stuck to my policy of not playing anything that comes into the shop until it’s clean - in these times I hope you’ll adopt that policy, too. I also hope that if your finances are intact when this is over that you’ll visit your local shop for a chem clean if you’re due for one. Lots of techs are struggling financially right now and will need your support to keep their businesses open! If you like using your local techs, help them be there to help you.
Back to work - stay safe and healthy!

Kehaulani

I cleaned out my trumpet once. Green slime came out of it. My range dropped a fourth!

flugelgirl

@Kehaulani that’s just not healthy. One other great benefit of regular cleaning is that it doesn’t entirely change the way your horn plays. There is very little difference in the way my old A1 plays to your new one because I’ve been so good about regular maintenance!

Kehaulani

Bobby Shew tweaked my horn and wrote me back that I needed to do more routine maintenance on it, LOL.

Dr GO

@Kehaulani said in CLEAN YOUR HORN!:

I cleaned out my trumpet once. Green slime came out of it. My range dropped a fourth!

My concern here was, did the range decline come from horn changes or the change in pulmonary airway from aerosolization of growth in the brass?

@flugelgirl
Very good advice!
Also, we all get mail. I pick up the mail with gloves and wipe it with a Lysol wipe once I get it inside.

Kehaulani

It didn't drop a fourth. That was a joke. But it did drop a bit and I think that might have been influenced by the horn having less resistance from the sudden absence of junk in it.

(p.s. - That's English for "change in pulmonary airway from aerosolization of growth in the brass". )

Dr GO

@Kehaulani said in CLEAN YOUR HORN!:

... having less resistance from the sudden absence of junk in it = change in pulmonary airway from aerosolization of growth in the brass"

This is an appropriate English to Medical Language translation.