How To Deep Clean Your Trombone In And Outside

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Trombone maintenance is a practice which should be a part of every trombonist's daily playing routine. Keeping a make clean instrument not merely serves to maintain the value of your investment, but information technology also helps keep your slide and valve movements easy and smooth, allowing for more maneuverability with the musical instrument and better sound quality. Here are a few steps to follow when performing general maintenance on your trombone.

1
Make full a bathtub with lukewarm water. Do Not use hot water. It helps to place a dampened towel or cloth at the bottom of the bathtub to avoid dents or scratches.
- Hot water can actually impairment the lacquer. Lukewarm h2o volition be just fine.
2
Disassemble the trombone into its 2 main parts, the slide and the bell section. Side by side, take the outer slide off the inner slide. Y'all should now have three parts. Then remove the tuning slide (or both if you have a Bb/F trigger trombone).
- Now you should have four (or five) parts in the water. Include the mouthpiece and y'all will have five (or six.)
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3

Place all the parts in the bathtub of lukewarm water and permit them soak. *Gently handle the parts at all times.^[1]
4
In one case the parts have soaked for five to x minutes, stand up the bell section up away from the other parts and gently rub the bell with the cotton wool rags on the outside and as much as yous can on the inside.
- Rinse the bong with cold water.
- Use the embankment towel and dry the bell as much as possible. Gear up it aside in a safe identify where it will not be knocked over and let it finish past air drying.
5
Take the outer slide and run the snake back and fourth through inside of it. Brand sure the outer slide is filled with h2o. Do this for about i to 2 minutes on each side of the slide.
- Often junk will come out into the water. That's good! Proceed working at information technology for at least a minute on each side. Using a clean stream of cold h2o, rinse the inside and exterior of the outer slide. Dry out with a beach towel and let it air dry with the bong.
6

Pick up the inner slide and using a clean cotton rag, wipe it firmly but gently up and down the exterior. Next, accept the snake and make clean the inside of the inner slide as before with the outer slide. Rinse and dry and place it with the other parts.^[2]
7
Apply the serpent to make clean the inside of the tuning slide. ^[3]
- Ofttimes the tuning slide grease will somewhen gum on the part of the tuning slide that fits into the bell section. To clean this, apply a penetrating oil like WD-xl. Spray the tuning slide with the penetrating oil and let information technology sit for a few minutes, before wiping away equally much "gunk" as possible. If the horn has not been cleaned in a while, you lot may have to repeat this procedure several times.^[4]
viii

Accept the mouthpiece castor and button it back and along into the shank (the role that fits into the trombone) of the mouthpiece. This will just take about 30 seconds or then. Rub the mouthpiece with a cotton rag, and so dry out it. If the mouthpiece gets gunk in the cup or shank, it will greatly disrupt the airflow when playing, so do not fail your mouthpiece.^[5]
9
Finishing off.
- Subsequently the horn has completely "air dried" you will have a nice clean trombone. You will take to reapply a slide lubricant to the slide, then apply tuning slide grease to the tuning slides. Apply both sparingly -- a petty goes a long way.^[6]
- Reinsert the tuning slide(south) into the bell department. Wipe any actress grease abroad with a make clean cloth or cotton rag. Now your ready to clean your trombone and recall clean well and clean oft.
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1

Disassemble the trombone by unscrewing the bell portion from the slide and removing the mouthpiece.
2

Remove the outer slide and wipe off whatsoever excess grease, oil or moisture from the inner slides with a soft rag. Be careful not to bend or dent either slide in the procedure. Be gentle!
3

Use a cleaning rod or a "ophidian" (a flexible prophylactic coated metallic wire with a small castor on both ends), clean out any excess grease, oil or wet from the insides of the outer and inner slides. If using a cleaning rod, be careful non to jam the rod into the bottom of the slide. If y'all are rough, you risk denting the cheat at the end of the slide.
four

Remove the main tuning slide from the bell portion and clean the inside with a "ophidian".
5

Do the same for F attachment tuning slide if your trombone has the F attachment.
6

If absolutely necessary, disassemble the rotary valve for the F zipper, rinse off each piece and wipe off excess oil or grease. However, this stage of the cleaning should really be handled by a trained instrument technician, as whatsoever sort of scratch or dent in the valve volition adversely impact the playability of the horn.
7

Rinse all trombone components with warm water (NOT HOT, meet warnings) in a shower or bath. Special attending should be given to the rotary valve, water fundamental (or spit valve), and the outer and inner slides.
8

Dry out off all components with a soft rag, making sure that no large pockets of water remain in whatever of the tubing or in the rotary valve.
ix

Apply necessary grease to the tuning slides and attach them to the bong portion of the instrument.
10

Reassemble the rotary valve and employ necessary oils. Most of the oil should be applied by dripping it in through the pipe where the bell section and playing slide see, though a few drops may be applied to the rotary valve direct.
eleven

Reassemble inner slide and outer slide and adhere it to the bong section of the trombone.
12

Apply necessary slide grease or oils to the inner slide.
13

Wipe down the unabridged outside of the trombone using a soft rag.

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Question

Can I use any spray canteen? A bottle didn't come in my cleaning kit and I was wondering if a small, cleaned, body mist canteen would be fine.

Forte Piano

Community Answer

Any canteen that has a sprayer on top will do fine. But be sure to rinse information technology out first! A modest, meaty, portable bottle is preferred, though.
Question

Do I have to use a snake?

If y'all were going to clean the inside of the slide, a serpent would be the easiest and safest way.
Question

I use a cleaning rod for dry cleaning to clean my trombone, only the cloth function tears hands. Is there something else I tin can use? Like an onetime t-shirt?

NEVER utilise a cleaning rod on the inside or exterior of your trombone. It can scratch your instrument. You can use simply the cleaning rod cloth for wiping away excess oil. You could utilise a t-shirt, too, but improve nevertheless is using h2o to avert any possibility of scratching.
Question

I don't have a cleaning snake. Is there anything else I tin clean the inside with?

I don't recommend trying anything else, because it might impairment your instrument.
Question

Where can I become a cleaning snake for my trombone?

They should be easy to observe online, or at a local music shop.
Question

How long should I let my trombone dry after giving it a bath?

Every bit long as needed to get it fully dried. Although yous should let information technology dry fully, water is not a bad thing to a trombone. Water goes through your trombone every time y'all play information technology.
Question

Do you have to have Dawn dish lather?

Any dishwasher or laundry detergent will work. Just don't cascade it directly in the instrument. Mix information technology with the bathroom water, so permit your horn soak.
Question

How do I get rid of rust on the external bell on a trombone?

Using a cloth, gently dust it. Be certain not to scratch it.
Question

How do I go the mildew smell out of my old trombone?

Use a cleaning snake and go as much gunk out every bit possible, it is the source.
Question

How do I get a paring out of a trombone slide?

A friend of mine came up with the solution of putting water in the dented section and putting it in the freezer. The h2o will expand when frozen and remove the paring.

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Video

The playing slide may require more frequent lubrication with grease or oil. Just utilize as necessary.
To rinse the parts, use the shower head if your bathtub has 1.
Silver plated horns volition probably tarnish the adjacent day or and so afterward cleaning. Using a balmy argent shine, clean the horn equally directed on the shine bottle. Only make clean the exterior: the inside is brass or copper.
Brand sure the instrument is wiped downwardly afterward all parts have been reattached and lubricated, every bit this volition help you remove all finger prints or oils from your hands, valves or slides for a nice, polished look.

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Exercise non utilise a blow dryer for any role of the drying procedure, as a accident dryer can become very hot and tin can damage the lacquer!
Be very careful with the parts, peculiarly the inner and outer slide.
Practice not use abrasive cleaners or cleaning pads, which will rub off the lacquer. In other words, do non employ Ajax, Comet, Brasso, SOS pads, steel wool, etc.
When washing the horn, practice not use overly hot h2o. Information technology can cause the lacquer to flake off allowing air to get to the raw brass. For horns that are not lacquered, be careful with the heat as brass is a very soft metal and besides hot a temperature can really cause the horn to warp.
When handling any of the slides (though special care should exist taken with the inner and outer playing slides), brand sure that they are placed on a relatively soft, shine surface when they are not being cleaned to avert denting, as this could result in changes in the sound quality of the instrument or even render the instrument unusable.
Exist conscientious when using the master slide especially. If it hits something hard information technology may dent and bend rendering the instrument unplayable.
If y'all practice not know how to detach your F zipper rotary valve, simply leave it as it is and oil it whenever you conduct this maintenance. Mistakes in the assembly or disassemble of the valve may impairment your instrument.

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Things You'll Need

Flexible castor normally called a "snake" which can be purchased at whatever music store
Mouthpiece brush -- once again available at whatever music store.
Bathtub
Mild lather. Some similar to use horn soap (available at many music stores) but this is not necessary. Mild dish soap volition be fine. Lemon or orange is even ameliorate.
Some cotton rags (onetime t-shirts work best.)
Beach towel to dry the trombone

Ii soft rags—ane for the cleaning of the instrument, ane for the polishing of the instrument after the cleaning is washed
Cleaning rod and rag, or a "snake"
Any slide grease or oil that you ordinarily apply