Spitballs
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Has anyone used Spitballs before? What was your experience? It seems like it would be a good product to clean your trumpet every couple of weeks, though certainly not a replacement for a good, regular, deep clean. Thoughts on the product?
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I used them and they got stuck and I had to, then, use a snake to get the balls out.
The good news is that, after that annoyance, they worked.
The bad news was that they didn't work as advertised.I never swabbed my horns, previously, and never had a problem. Others had no problem using the spit balls but did have a problem with red rot.
That is all to say, I guess, that it depends on you, your body chemistry and how patient you are. I use Tim Wendt's Lead Pipe Swab and leave it at that. https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=114984
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@emerson-siefken I find them indispensable. Combined with scrupulous dental hygiene before playing, using them on a weekly basis has ended the need for any other type of cleaning, and I inspect the inside of the tubing periodically with a flashlight and an endoscope just to be sure.
I bought a vintage trombone several years ago and scrubbed the Hell out of the inside. Herco says that its Spitballs get what other methods miss. I didn't think the product was magic until I blew one through the horn. It removed a shocking and disgusting amount of black crud, so I used another. And another. And another. And another.... Well, I put most of a jar of Spitballs through the horn before one came out clean.
I'd say that if your horn is clean, keep it that way with Herco Spitballs. Also, pizza won't grow in your horn if you floss and brush before you play. Your dental care bills will be minimized as well. Depending upon your saliva chemistry, you might need to have a competent tech deep clean your horn from time to time if there's mineral buildup, but I think that using Spitballs will extend that interval dramatically.
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Proper hygiene before you play is a must. I also use spitballs and never had an issue with them. I even use the larger size.
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I think they are great. I pass a few of them as they get more crud out the more you pass. I retrieve clean/dry. keep them in container with valve oil, reuse..re clean and so on. They seem to hold up well, still on my first batch from 5/6 yrs. ago.
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For me, they are the first line of defence whenever I try out a "new" horn (new to me, that is. I have abandoned buying new horns), and they work well for a first clean before you try and buy.
