Oiling trumpet
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- Oil floats on water. That makes oiling after playing useless because the bore is covered with condensation. The only oiling that reduces wear is the oiling that prevents two pieces of metal from touching one another.
- petroleum based oils evaporate mostly within 24 hours making a daily oiling sensible
- synthetic oils do not evaporate like petroleum based ones, so we really do not need to oil daily. That being said: if we do not brush our teeth really well before playing, the aerosols in our breath will collect and turn the oil to sludge over time. Just adding oil on top of that just makes the sludge thinner.
For valves, I swab the casing every other day and wipe down the valves then when everything is bone dry, reoil. The oil is attached to all moving surfaces and protection is best.
Depending on the make, age and provenance of the horn, a valve job can transform the instrument to even better than new.
