Oiling your trumpet.

[Anthony Lenzo]

Is it possible to oil your trumpet too much? I brought a brand new Yamaha Xeno and it came with a manual that tells you to oil the pistons before and after you play .It seems a bit much , what do are experts think on trumpet boards ? Also is putting oil down the lead pipe a good idea to prevent red rot ? Thank you Anthony

[Dr GO]

Unless oil comes dripping out of your valve caps, not sure if you can ruin a horn from too much oil. But under oiling would be a problem .

For me it's more a function of the make of the horn. I use the feel of the horn to let me know when more oil is needed.

My Kanstal flugel horn demands the most, essentially every other performance. My others about once a week.

The owners manual on my Martin Committee actually recommends putting oil down the first valve slide. Interestingly the same manual recommends filling the entire horn with water then blowing it through after a cleaning to "charge " the valve pistons.

[Anthony Lenzo]

@Dr-GO wow blowing water through the trumpet to charge the piston ...but why oil in the first valve slide ?

[J. Jericho]

I oil valves before and after use. Same for Amado water keys.

[Gendreauj]

@Anthony-Lenzo
Make sure you use light or medium valve oil. Are you using synthetic or oil based oils?

[Anthony Lenzo]

@Gendreauj yes I am using synthetic

[Dr GO]

@Anthony-Lenzo said in Oiling your trumpet.:

@Dr-GO ...but why oil in the first valve slide ?

This came from the Martin manual with no reason for the advice. Must be from the author's F'n experience.

[Gendreauj]

Until recently I did use valve oil on the 1st and 3rd slide of my cornet. Like those slides fast. The downside was it did stain the slides. Now use ultrapure liquid slide grease.
I use LaTromba 3 light oil and do not have to apply as much as my previous used horns. But I practice 30 minutes 7 days a week. No gigs.

[administrator]

You should oil your trumpet / cornet / flugelhorn probably min 1x a day (every day you play it, that is). You can't technically "over-oil" your horn; if you do so, you'll just end up with a bunch of nasty oil in your lap. You can, however, certainly under-oil it, and this could result in damage to your valves.

[Trumpetb]

My own feeling is this

If you wait until working the valves tells you they need oil, that means the valves are scraping.

The damage has already been done.

I oil too much.

Some people talk of how much oil they use per day. Like one drop per day.

So if you play for 30 minutes you use 1 drop, if you play for 12 hours do you still only use 1 drop.

This makes no sense.

I oil before I play then after an hour I oil again I might oil again if I play a third hour.

Oil stops valves scraping the valve block and wearing the block out.

I do not wish to turn my instrument into junk so I use a lot of oil. My valves never wear out.

I have a Besson that is 100 years old, it has the original copper valves which were fitted to the instrument in 1924, they should have worn out decades ago, but the valves are great and they are as tight as any I have played including a Yamaha.

The lesson is clear, over oil if you want your valves to last 100 years, under oil if you want them to only last 5 minutes.

[Dr GO]

@Anthony-Lenzo said in Oiling your trumpet.:

@Dr-GO wow blowing water through the trumpet to charge the piston ...but why oil in the first valve slide ?

Update: Here is the copy of the portion of the Martin Committee Manual that describes the thorough cleaning of their valves by 1) filling the horn with water to flush the valves; 2) Placing oil down the first valve slide to cleans and improve valve action

I cannot make this stuff up.. This was the recommendation made by a Martin technician back 1946 when this manual was included with the originally purchased horn.

[Dr GO]

The Martin Committee Manual in its entirety:

[Kehaulani 0]

As anyone used to reading my posts would know that I am a minimalist - I think there's way too much micro-analysing and over-thinking on things trumpet,

So, with that being said - I don't oil my valves individually. Maybe once a week, I blow some oil from my mouthpipe through the entire horn and out the bell. Been doing this since Jr. H.S. and that was a long time ago.

I do think, though, that the oil makes a difference, so use that judiciously. (And even speaking of minimalist oil, for several years my oil was a mixture of 3-in-One oil and White Kerosine. Fuggataboutit.)