About horn cleaning

How often should I clean my horn?

What's the best way to clean my horn at home?

How often should I bring my horn in for a chemical cleaning?

These are some of the most frequently asked questions that we get. You should perform basic cleaning on your instrument all the time. We recommend the following for rotary valve horns:

Prevent dirt: brush your teeth or rinse your mouth before playing.
Clean your mouthpiece frequently with a brush and warm, soapy water.
After playing, empty all the water you can and lubricate the valves. This prevents build up of corrosion. Use a light oil on the rotors, and a slightly heavier medium weight oil on the bearings (the rotor shafts).
Some techs recommend blowing several drops of valve or rotor oil down your mouthpipe once a week. This can't hurt, and it may help. Just put about six or eight drops of valve oil in your mouthpipe, insert your mouthpiece, and blow hard.
Get a flexible mouthpipe brush, or "snake", and brush out your mouthpipe once a week. Remove the main tuning slide, then slide the snake in, small end first, and all the way through. Then rinse with warm soapy water, and rinse again with clear water. If you blow oil through, as above, let the mouthpipe dry overnight before doing that and re-installing the main tuning slide.
Once a week, pull all your tuning slides and wipe them clean with a paper towel. Put fresh tuning slide grease on the ends and work them in with a back and forth motion. Don't leave your tuning slides out in position - learn where they belong and pull them before practice. Leaving them in place encourages a bad build up in the slide receivers.
When you notice sluggish valves, excessive dirt, or excessive build up, especially that lime green gunk under the valve caps or on the slides, then it's time for a chemical clean. Don't do it at home. Get a qualified technician to do it.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON DETERGENTS: Use a liquid dishwashing detergent such as Dawn (which I recommend highly). NEVER USE A POWDERED DISH DETERGENT. NEVER USE ANYTHING THAT WILL SCRATCH YOUR INSTRUMENT.

ALSO, microfiber cleaning cloths work extremely well at keeping the exterior of your instrument clean. These are great for removing dirt and fingerprints. Only use an untreated soft, microfiber cloth. Most microfiber cloths can be washed when dirty.

For instruments other than horns, such as trumpets or trombones, most of the above applies.

For trumpets: oil the pistons after playing and before putting the trumpet away. Use your snake. If you don't mind pulling your whole trumpet apart (not literally - don't unsolder it!), then once a month disassemble it, clean it with warm, soapy water, rinse it well, and let it dry overnight before lubricating. On the 3rd slide (and first, too, if you have a thumb saddle or trigger) use key oil. Actually, I recommend 3-in-1 oil first, then one or two drops of key oil. This works extremely well to lubricate those moving slides. But don't overdo it with the 3-in-1, because it's got a paraffin base.

For trombones, clean your inner slide frequently with clean paper towels and use lubricant sparingly. If you have a snake, then snake the outer slide with warm, soapy water and rinse weekly. And, snake the inner slide from the mouthpiece venturi, down. Lubricate your rotary valves as above. Thayer valves must be lubricated often!

For tubas, the tuning slide is usually past the valve section. On piston tubas, remove the #1 valve before snaking the mouthpipe. On rotary tubas, don't bother snaking the mouthpipe unless you know how to disassemble and reassemble your rotary valves. Empty water first, then oil after playing for maximum valve protection.

One final note: sluggish valves will rarely be fixed by increased lubrication. Either they are extremely dirty, or there's something wrong. Take your instrument to a technician. Better yet, just keep it clean to begin with!

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