Yeah, rubber bands aren't strong enough. For next time: What works pretty well for pulling cloth is 20 or 30 lb fishing line attached with a good knot. What I do is tie the line around the middle of the cloth, not the end. I also use a small lead sinker on the other end to lead the line through the slide. There are some good snakes out there, but I still prefer fishing line and old t-shirts. It is even possible to clean all the ports of the 3rd valve on a compensating horn using this method.Originally posted by: CKH
It's in the actual tuning slide. I was cleaning them out individually with a snake. I took a t shirt and cut it up into strips and attached it to the snake with via a rubber band. I couldn't push it all the way through, so I pulled it out and the shirt part and rubber band is still in there.
Don't be discouraged and stop cleaning your horn yourself, in the long run you will develop a good method, save lots of money, and keep the horn in good shape and sounding good.
- Carroll