Breaking in a new euph: best practices

[davewerden]

1. When you take the valves out for wipe down/re-oiling, do you also run the cloth through the valve casings?

Not every time, but once in a while it's a very good idea. Obviously use a lint-free cloth.

2. When I spoke with Andy at Wessex and mentioned I was using blue juice in my Yamaha, he was pretty adamant that I should not use it in my Wessex. He recommended using Yamaha Light Synthetic. However, I read in one of the forum links that using Synthetic was not recommended when breaking in a horn.

I don't know what his reason is, but despite my own fondness for Blue Juice I would take Andy's advice for caring for your Wessex.

[IaMichael]

Not every time, but once in a while it's a very good idea. Obviously use a lint-free cloth.

I read that you used a microfiber cloth you found at a autoparts store. I'll check in my local autoparts store(s) to see if I can find the same thing.

I don't know what his reason is, but despite my own fondness for Blue Juice I would take Andy's advice for caring for your Wessex.

Andy's choice was based on (as I remember his explanation ... any mistakes are mine) was that on the few warranty valve/valve guide issues he's seen, Blue Juice was being used and he has not had any where the Yamaha Synthetic Light was being used. Not that the valve oil was the problem, it was just something in common. I agree with you about the Blue Juice and will continue to use it on my 321, but will use his recommendation on the Wessex.

Thank-you for responding so quickly. I'm really liking the forum!

Thanks!
Mike

[ghmerrill]

I'm wondering if anyone has looked at the inside of the tubing with a bore scope or a fiberoptic inspection tool. We have one in the shop here and you would be suprised how rough the inside the tuibing really is.

I have three Chinese-made instruments and think that each is a good value and a wonderful instrument in terms of playability. But the one thing I do notice is that the "fit and finish" is not nearly as good as on American/British/German instruments I've had or used. Often this is far from obvious. But if you sight down one of the tubes (e.g., a tuning slide or a trombone handslide) you will see slight patterns of unevenness or waviness. And there are minor fabrication flaws on some inessential parts of my Wessex Eb tuba pistons. And there's a small section of one of the knuckles on the Gb valve of my bass trombone that's a quality control embarrassment. And I had a solder joint break on my Wessex tuba after a few months. And the nickel finish on buttons and levers wears through much more rapidly than it should.

I still don't have any idea what the "longevity" of these instruments, but I think it will be fine for me. I suspect the bass trombone may be a little less good in that area because of some minor things I'm seeing, but that's just a hunch. To be honest, if the trombone tanks in the next year or so, I may well replace it with one of the same. It's that good a horn, fits me well, and I have it set up exactly how I want it -- and I couldn't afford a real King 7B even if I could find one.

[jaxstrad]

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[deleted]

[Kit15]

You said your Dolce is arriving in Mid-December. Is the shipping slow is there a new batch?

At least the lacquer and the gold brass bell versions were on back order as of last week.

[IaMichael]

You said your Dolce is arriving in Mid-December. Is the shipping slow is there a new batch?

I ordered a silver/gold and a new batch is arriving mid-December. Andy, at Wessex, let me know this well in advance of me road tripping to Michigan to test play the horn. He had a silver/gold, with a minor cosmetic blemish, for me to test play. It played smooth and was for sale at a good, discounted price, but I decided to wait for the new batch.

[IaMichael]

Getting excited. FedEx is delivering my Dolce tomorrow (11/29)!

[rudibred]

I gave my new horn a bath for the first time yesterday. Removed everything that was easily removable and placed it in a tub with warm water and a few drops of dish soap (except the valves which I left out and cleaned separately). Let everything soak for 30 min. I used a snake to brush all tubing as well as the valve casings and got nervous that little bits of slide grease the snake picked up from the tubes would get in the valve casing and mess things up when I put it all back together (luckily it didn't). There also seemed to be a thin coat of grease on the instrument when taking it out despite rinsing with fresh water. It all came off for the most part with polishing.

Should I use more soap next time to really cut that grease?
Wipe off as much slide grease as possible before putting things into the tub?
Not use the same side of the snake for tubes as I do valve casings?
Also unsure if I should push the snake around corners of tubing as I was getting a lot of resistance and could feel the rounded metal tip on the snake hitting the inside of the instrument.

Played for an hour after reassembling and felt great but just want to make sure I'm using best practices for next time.

Thanks,
Rudi

[RickF]

I like to use about 1/4 cup of Dawn dish-washing liquid in a tub of warm water (not too hot). Letting it soak for about 30 minutes sounds about right.

I try not to use any snakes with exposed metal for cleaning the tubes. I like using the HW Brass Saver for baritone found here:

Brass Saver for Baritone:

This set has one snake for tubing and a separate swab for valve casings. I just got a new set last week and they're still pretty good, but not as good as earlier versions. Seems like there's less 'fuzzy material' used in making the casing swab.

The only time I use a snake with any metal is to clean the smaller diameter lead pipe. The metal is mostly covered with plastic except for the very end of the brush. There's where I'm real careful to watch how far I insert that snake by looking down the 1st valve casing with a flash light... making sure the tip doesn't come in contact with the casing.

[rudibred]

Thanks for the tips Rick! I'll have to check out the Brass Saver.

Also a post I found after writing my original comment was: http://www.dwerden.com/forum/showthr...ning-Your-Horn
I'll definitely have to try that technique next time!

Rudi

[RickF]

To be more correct I think I use 1/4 cup of Dawn soap (edited above).