Best brass instrument care products according to redditors

Give it a bath from time to time. Not even joking. Fill the bath with warm (not hot) water, disassemble your trombone and give it a soak for a few minutes. then get your cleaning brush and give each section a good scrub on the inside using a bit of hand soap. Then just wash down after with cold water and leave to dry. After that you just need to reassemble, re-lube the main slide and grease the tuning slide and you're good to go!

Mouthpieces don't wear out (they are solid metal). Give it a good wash and scrape inside with a mouthpiece brush. If the bottom is dented you can also fix that with a repair tool. Your band director might have one, or your local repair shop definitely will. If your mouthpiece is tarnished/dark, you can make it all sparkly and new with this trick.

Personally, I don't replace my mouthpieces when the plating starts to wear through, but you can get them replated or replaced at that point.

If you want to blow $50-100 on trumpet stuff, buy some sheet music or a new mute 😁

It is sad that a slide-lube post gets more responses than something to do with actual music. <doh!>

Mixing products is not a good idea. You should not need to use a slide rod more than once a month, if ever. Flush the slide using some liquid dish soap and a snake.

Solution: after cleaning your slide, use some Yamaha Slide Lubricant, with no water. The price goes up and down on Amazon, but it should be around $7 or $8.

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YAC1021P-Trombone-Slide-Oil/dp/B0049P5U7A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452063778&sr=8-1&keywords=yamaha+slide+lubricant

If your slide has dents, all bets are off. As far as lubricants go, there is nothing better than the Yamaha product. Depending on the humidity, it might last a week. Or it might need reapplying in a day or two.

Trombone brush. Yes, really

This is the one I picked up from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000EELFOM

Note the reviews, almost all about miatas

http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Pure-Oils-UPO-VALVE-Trumpet-Accessory/dp/B005KH55D0

Get this. I have only needed to oil my trumpet one time this year once I switched to it. This stuff is basically magic.

Most likely your drains are clogged in either the fenders or the rain well behind your head.

With the top up, follow the carpet behind your head until you find a finger size hole at either side of the car under the carpet. Those holes become clogged with crap and don't allow the water to drain, causing a sloshing sound in the cabin. If there is water pooling there and you can't clear the drain hole with your finger, get yourself a trombone cleaner and clean the drain all the way to the ground. Don't use anything that can damage the drain like a screwdriver.

If the drain area under the carpet behind your head is dry, then it's most likely water trapped in the fenders due to clogged drains. You'll need to pull the wheel well liners back and root around in there to clear the crap out. This video shows how it's done.

Grab a bottle of Al Cass valve oil, a bottle of a bit thicker oil, like Hetman #12 or #13, then some Bach pink tuning slide grease. The Al Cass will be used on the inside of the valves and the Hetman will be used behind the valves and under the valve cap. These three should last you a very long time. I've had my bottle of Al Cass for 3 years now, and my Bach grease for over 5. You'll eventually also want a mouthpiece brush and a lead pipe snake.

In terms of books, it depends on how you learn. If you know nothing about reading music, you can pick up one of the beginning band method books like Essential Elements, but if you are easily bored by simple melodies then this book might not be the one for you. If you are a reader, you may want to consider picking up a horn pedagogy book like Farkas's The Art of Horn Playing, Frøydis Ree Wekre's Thoughts on Playing The Horn Well, or Eli Epstein's Horn Playing From the Inside Out. These books are geared more towards someone who already has some facility on the instrument, but if you lack a teacher, they contain information on things such as embouchure formation, breathing, articulation, dynamics, range, and other things.

The most common etude books are Kopprasch 60 Selected Studies and Maxime Alphonse Deux Cents Etudes Nouvelles, but even at the beginning they are pretty advanced with regard to range and technique. I'd start with Getchell's First Practical Book of Studies for French Horn. There is a second book to this series, but at the end of book one you may want to jump to Miersch's Melodious Studies for French Horn. At the end of that book, you can probably make the jump to Kopprasch.

I'd also grab a scale book like Pares Scales for French Horn, though at the beginning it may exceed your range, so it's fine to wait on this one.

If you have any other questions, let me know!

Edit: as /u/Conn10D said above, I'd highly recommend getting a teacher. Even a month of lessons is enough to nip problems in the bud before they become bad habits that hinder your progress and ultimately take the fun out of it.

Yamaha slide oil, for real.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049P5U7A/#

If you have any non-aerosol Pledge or some old timey Pond's cold cream, those could work. Coconut oil is going to be too much. Whatever you try, try just a liiiiittle bit and mist it with water.

Or you could invest $9 and get the best slide product known to science:
https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YAC1021P-Trombone-Slide-Oil/dp/B0049P5U7A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487888330&sr=8-1&keywords=yamaha+trombone+slide+lubricant

It says "oil" but it's really more like a mix of silicon and soap. Traditional oils are horrid compared to the modern lubricants like Yama-snot, Trombotine, Slide-o-Mix, Rapid Comfort, SuperSlick, etc.

That's hilarious, I've never actually noticed anything unusual before in stuff like that. But now that you mention it...

Turns out car\Miata stuff pops up on this trombone cleaner.

So slide o mix can be pretty thick stuff. It sounds like you’re using too much. Or not enough of the smaller bottle? Are you using a spray bottle of water with it too? They do make a slide o mix light for slides with a tighter tolerance. That might be necessary with your brand new horn.

I personally like the Yamaha Slide Lubricant. It comes in one tube, and you don’t need a spray bottle of water.

It might be a bit dry with the oil but it also seems like the slide itself might have a few kinks. Try either the Yamaha brand (personal favorite) or Slide-O-Mix brand of slide oil.

I don't have a garage, so unfortunately mine stays out in the elements year round. It had a small leak at the window seal when I got it, but I adjusted the windows and now it seals and I have had no problems since. It was a little blacker in color when I got it but the dealership probably used some restore stuff to shiny it up and I could do the same and it would be fine. It gets dumped on with pine needles and pollen and rain all the time but I wash it a lot to help. When it's summer and dry and pollen gets on it sometimes I have to use a soft brush when I wash it to get the pollen out of the textured surface. I think that's about it. Mine has held up fine. But I'd be a million times happier if I had a garage.


Edit: get a trombone cleaner to clean the drain holes, mine get plugged with pine needles so it's regular maintenance.

Edit: here's the trombone cleaner I use:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000K3E9KO/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_pHZ9Bb38HVDAY

I bathe my horns every 6 months or so.

Get yourself a trombone snake. Then fill the bathtub with maybe 10 cm or so of lukewarm water, a few drops of mild dish detergent like Dawn, and put a towel down on the bottom of the tub (yes, in the water) to keep your horn from being damaged by the tub or vice versa.

Take your horn apart (Inner slide, outer slide, bell section, tuning slide, trigger slides if you have them), plop them in and make sure they fill with water, let them soak for a few minutes, then snake them out well and wipe everything down with a rag. Then rinse thoroughly and wipe with a clean cotton towel and let it all air dry. Re-lube and assemble.

I have a 30 year old horn that's been bathed at least 50 times that way and its kept it in great shape (and I used to eat and drink while I played a lot back in high school and college, some fun stuff floated out when I cleaned it in those days )

Mouthpieces I generally boil (I boil a kettle and then pour it over them, I'll do all my mouthpieces in one go), and then if needed soak them in some white vinegar to remove scale from the inside. All my mouthpieces are gold, so I don't need to worry about acids but if you have silver then you could etch them, so dilute the vinegar a bit first.

I played trombone from 5th grade to 12th grade (US grades.) I'm 26 now and it is in my attic. I kinda slightly want to play it sometimes but I live in an apartment so I don't want to be a bother.

Anyway, get some Slide-o-Mix, shit is amazing.

eidt: maybe I could practice in my attic... it would get super hot in the summer tho...

I realized that I forgot to mention some vital stuff you'll need and some important things you'll want to do if you do buy a trumpet.

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The number one is valve oil. There are a million and a half different brands out there. I've used Blue Juice ($4 per bottle), Al Cass Fast ($7 per bottle), and Hetmans No. 2 ($7 to $8 per bottle for my horns. The first two are petroleum based and the Hetmans is synthetic. No matter what brand you buy, make sure you thoroughly wash the horn inside and out before oiling, especially the inside of the valve casing and the actual pistons themselves. If you don't, different varieties of oils can react together and gum up the valves. One bottle of valve oil will last you a while, so don't worry about stocking up.

You will also want some slide grease. I've only ever used Superslick ($2.30) , but any brand should be fine. I've even heard of people using vaseline.

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For cleaning, you'll want a trumpet snake ($2 to $3), a valve casing cleaner ($3 to $4), and maybe a mouthpiece brush ($2 to $3). You will also need a soft cloth that doesn't leave fibers behind. I use a microfiber cloth.

Here's a short video explaining how to clean a trumpet.

And a short video explaining how to oil the valves.

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General trumpet resources:

Fingering chart

Intro to reading sheet music

Trumpet Basics playlist


And some good youtube channels about brass:

Trent Hamilton. Very entertaining and informative videos. He covers alllll sorts of brass isntruments, so if you've ever wanted to know more about the brass family, check this channel out.

Rufftips. Where Trent Hamilton focuses more on the instrument side of things, Rufftips focuses on the playing. His channel is great for playing tips, helpful hints, and general really useful stuff about playing and practicing.

Matonizz. This channel focuses on euphonium, but a lot of what they talk about can be applied to trumpet.

/u/Champagneshallow is correct. Drain holes for rain. You should have another on the passenger side.

Buy a trombone brush and give them a clean once in a while. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000K3E9KO

Instrument Maintenance 101

This video starts out discussing some common issues that are caused by not keeping a trumpet clean and lubricated, and then shows how to clean your horn.

If you want cleaning brushes like the ones Monette uses, it's these:

Valve casing brush - The picture is wrong - it shows a mouthpiece brush. But this is the one used in the video, and it is your best friend for cleaning your valve casings. You can use it on lots of the other tubes on your horn as well, even though it looks too big. The bristles are soft enough that it fits into smaller tubes and does a great job.

Mouthpiece brush - Useful for things other than mouthpieces. Works great on piston ports, and you should brush out the mouthpiece receiver on your horn with it as often as possible because that's where lots of gunk tends to accumulate and cause problems with mouthpiece sealing and mouthpiece shank wear.

Snake - It says it's for trombone, but trust me - this is the one you want for trumpet as well.

A trombone brush works great for cleaning the drains behind the seat belt towers. Just be careful pushing it all the way through and yanking it back out: there are little rubber flaps at the bottom that can rip off if you jam them too hard.

As far as the water in there now, soak up as much as you can, dry with a hair dryer (being careful not to burn or melt the carpet), and if it's still a little damp an RV Dehumidifier can remove the rest of the moisture in the cabin.

> Are there places on the car that are particularly prone to rusting?

This is anecdotal, but my buddy's NB got a spot of rust in the engine bay that ended up eating a hole through the side of the frame. It didn't seem to cause any structural problem, but it's the only time I've seen that. Other than that, not really. Miatas are relatively rust-resistant. The main thing is to prevent water from pooling anywhere. Given enough time, water will find a way through just about any material. The only place I know that Miatas pool water is in the rocker panels if the rain rail drain ports aren't kept clear.

When you buy a Miata, get one of these, and immediately use it to clean these. The brush should come all the way out to the bottom of the car. Do this at least once a year, preferably after the trees have finished dropping their leaves.

Shop vac and maybe a heat gun on a low setting so as to not melt the carpet fibers? As for cleaning rain drains, I've heard you can use a brush for horn instruments which you should be able to pick up from a music shop or online.

For cleaning, I'll scrub it out with a trombone snake and drying I'll use an air compressor followed by hanging.

Trombone snake: http://www.amazon.com/Venture-1041-Trombone-Snake/dp/B0006VWY9I

A lot of music stores will have one if you walk in. Online music stores are sometimes cheaper, but I often use amazon for the convenience of throwing one extra thing in an order instead of ordering from a totally separate merchant.

third valve slide ring

Something like this would be great: https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Trumpet-Cleaning-Oil-Everything/dp/B01H2UAAN2/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=trumpet+cleaning+kit&qid=1573651549&sr=8-4

If $20 is too much you could probably just buy valve oil and a cleaning snake. You can use Vaseline for slides. The two levers are spit valves to let you release condensation that forms. There's a specific order the valves. It will take a little while to get the hang of buzzing and producing a steady sound, and then of being able to play higher or lower using different lip (embouchure) tension. It is a fun instrument! I bet you'll be playing some nice tunes in a few weeks.

There are particular ones. http://www.amazon.com/Glaesel-GL3980-Orchestral-Polishing-Cloth/dp/B0002II7H8 is the one I have. It's gentle enough for my violin and wipes fingerprints right away!

Yep...have a link. It's meant for slides with tighter tolerance between inner and outer tubes.

My guitar guy swears by valve oil. it’s a very thin oil, you don’t need much.

Al Cass Fast Valve Oil

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002OOVHM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_gjJLDb66D6DQ5

I have a long brush made to clean trombones. It works amazingly well.

Here's a link to a cheap one on amazon. They definitely lengthen the lifespan of your whip.

Venture Trombone Snake https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006VWY9I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_BRCFxbNHM0MK6

If you have absolutely no experience with brass instruments then there's not a lot that you can do on your own. Here are a few things that you can do. Please read through the entire list before you start actually doing these things, as the order in which they are performed does matter.

• Give it a bath
  
  • Unscrew the valves and remove the slides and then submerge the instrument in water. If the valves have felt rings at the top, be careful not to get those wet. If they have rubber, you can fully submerge them. IF ANYTHING DOES NOT MOVE AFTER USING A MODERATE AMOUNT OF FORCE DO NOT TRY TO UNSTUCK IT YOURSELF.
    
  • If you have a trumpet cleaning kit (such as the one here: https://www.amazon.com/Ravel-OP343-Trumpet-Care-Kit/dp/B0051PNVL4/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1O21Q2ND3LSXW&keywords=trumpet+cleaning+kit&qid=1573434166&sprefix=trumpet+cleaning+kit%2Caps%2C127&sr=8-5 ), use it as follows.
    
    • The long snake brush is used for the lead pipe (the one that the mouthpiece connects to) and the slides. Generally any dirt that has accumulated in the instrument will be in the lead pipe and tuning slide. You may use it to clean the smaller slides but this is usually unnecessary. Just put a dab of dish soap on the end and run it through the tube as far as it will go. For the smaller slides, you may have to do it from each end as it may not be able to get around the sharp bends.
      
    • The thick brush is for the valve casings. Remove the valves and unscrew the bottom valve caps if possible. Apply soap to the brush and then move it up and down a few times in each of the valve casings. Afterwards, run it through the holes in the lower segment of the valves themselves if there is dirt present in them.
      
    • The small brush is for the mouthpiece. Apply soap and scrub up and down starting from the end with the cup. To clean dirt from the cup itself, just use a wet washcloth/paper towel with some soap on it and scrub.
      
  • Before reassembling, drain all of the dirty water and re-submerge the instrument in clean water. Make sure any parts of the instrument that had soap in them have been thoroughly rinsed out.
    
• Lubricate anything that still moves. Should always be done AFTER the bath, as the bath will wash out any oil/grease applied beforehand.
  
  • Remove any valves that still are able to be unscrewed and pour oil over the body of the valve (The part that has all the holes in it)
    
    • Do not pour oil into the holes themselves, this does nothing.
      
  • If the tuning slide moves, remove it and apply a thin layer of slide grease on the part that goes inside the instrument.
    
    • If you do not have slide grease, pouring valve oil over the slide will do the job just fine
      
  • Remove any of the smaller slides that still move and pour valve oil on them
    
    • As counter-intuitive as it sounds, do not use slide grease on these smaller slides. The grease is intended for the tuning slide because it holds it in place while the instrument is being played, but allows the slide to move easily whenever significant force is applied to it. The smaller slides are intended to be moved effortlessly while the instrument is being played, so it is better to use valve oil for the slicker and more fluid feel.
      
• Make the exterior shiny
  
  • Wiping the outside down with a microfiber cloth will probably get the first layer of dirt off of it.
    
  • You can use connoisseur wipes (Normally intended for jewelry cleaning) to get a better shine.
    
  • For a deeper clean, use silver polish. My personal preferred brand is Wright's, but if it's labeled as silver polish, it'll do the job. Most of the time, it will be marketed for use on silverware.
    
    • If you want to use silver polish, it should be done BEFORE giving it a bath. The other methods of polishing should be done after the bath. If you really want, you can use all 3 in the order of:
      
    • Polish->bath->microfiber->connoisseur wipes'
      
      If this instrument has really remained untouched for 20 years, you will probably have to go to an actual brass repair specialist for SOMETHING. For simple problems like stuck valves and slides, you can usually get those fixed at generalist music stores such as Music and Arts or Mike's Music, but more complicated problems will need to be handled by a specialist.
      
      It looks like the bottom first valve cap is missing as well as the stopping peg. I don't know if these parts are replaceable for an instrument that is this old, but you'll have to take it to a repair shop if you want to know for sure.
      
      Make sure that you are very careful not to drop any parts of the instrument while cleaning it. Even very short drops can bend valve stems and dent slides if they land on a hard surface. I hope all this information helps you out!

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YAC1021P-Trombone-Slide-Mix/dp/B0049P5U7A

Yamaha slide oil/lubricant is what you're looking for. It's not actually "oil" like a horn player would think of it - it's kind of viscous and actually contains soap that keeps your slide in excellent shape (especially for beginners and those who don't play too often!). I've been using it on my horns exclusively for almost 5 years, and I'm only on my second bottle. It lasts forever.

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YAC1021P-Trombone-Slide-Oil/dp/B0049P5U7A

+1 to drain holes. When it rains, water will naturally run into the seam between the top and the body of the car. Most of it overflows, but Mazda designed a rain rail in that area to drain it through the interior of the car. This is what you're looking for. You need a trombone cleaner for this process. Push the trombone cleaner into that hole, and aim towards the shifter. Then snake it downwards until it exits through a hole in the bottom of the car. Pull it out. Note that the hole is actually vertical and faces towards the inside of the car, so you'll have to go by blind feel. It'll occasionally bend back upwards or get caught on something, so it'll take a few tries until you figure it out. And never go upwards from the hole in the bottom, only go downwards from the hole in the top. There's a 1-way flap.




This is a very common occurence and practically a rite of passage for a new Miata owner. Read the reviews on this trombone cleaner to see what I'm talking about.

This plus a small spray bottle with water is what I use. I can get away with oiling 1-2X a week, and spraying my slide with water when it gets a little dry

Edit: words

Firstly, a dish soap washing rinsing, scrubbing, and drying (use a very soft cloth for both) followed by valve oil is likely what you need.

Second, not paid or affiliated, but try different valve oil. I use blue juice, and that stuff is CRAZY good. I've heard this stuff is good as well.