Hi, John! You seem to have your head screwed on right so I doubt this is the problem with your current horn, BUT,
just in case you've not been taught this: you need to keep your leadpipe clean. Being the narrowest part of the tube, it is very vulnerable to small accumulations of spit and oral detritus, and being the beginning of the instrument it also affects many of the different harmonics. I use a (recycled) chopstick to dip down the leadpipe of students' instruments, swirl it around and frequently bring out slime of various types. Yellowish stuff is your own, from not brushing your teeth before you play. Brownish stuff has been there some time and black is what your predecessor left for you. I recently found bright green streaks in a tuba, which I fear mean the metal of leadpipe itself had started to decay. Always remove the first tuning slide before you rinse it out or the muck will end up in your valves causing more problems than leaving it alone. A flexible cleaner (plastic coated wire with a brush at each end) is very handy. I played a Euphonium the other day because the player couldn't get a very good tone, and found that when I blew very loud the instrument seemed to choke. I guessed there was something inside. She soaked it in the bath to soften up any really old deposits, and washed out the leadpipe, and it was much better but still not as good as the other instrument that I'd played at another school in the meantime. We took out the pistons and found they were still coated with muck, and there was also an accumulation in the tuning slide which needed a bit of digital persuasion. If your horn has been similarly abused, the valves could be coated with muck, but dismantling them is not a job for an amateur. A warm soak and rinse is all you can do. Further downstream there may be spots, especially the curves which are at the bottom during those long hours when you are NOT playing it. Best wishes Simon _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
