Originally Posted by
Asianeuph
I've had the second slide pop out on my Neo before, I took it in to the shop after I got tired of it for a week. Can't remember what my tech said, but it hasn't popped out since and it still slides like butter.
This is a problem endemic to euphoniums and very frequently encountered in Yamaha euphs (and their clones). All you have to do is to take the slide out, look at it, and you'll see the cause of the problem. The fix to it is to run an expander ball of just the right size down each of the tubes (well, "tube stubs" is more accurate). This takes a tech (who has about 100 of these balls) just a few minutes and is a permanent solution. I had the same problem (though not very pronounced) on my Mack Brass horn (a Yamaha clone), and fixed it myself so it's not an issue -- but I won't tell you how I did it. At some point, I think I'll take it in and have it done a bit better. You really need a graduated set of expander balls in order to get it just right.
A problem is that you want the slide to fit tightly enough so it doesn't fall out from any air pressure while playing the horn, but you want it to slide easily enough so you can pull it to dump water and re-insert it without difficulty. I'm also thinking of expanding the tubes so they'll fit very tightly, removing the pull ring, and adding an Amado water key. But at the moment, it's not a problem for me and works very well with the Dupont high vacuum silicone grease I use as slide lubricant.
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)