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Thread: Cleaning my loan euphonium

  1. #1

    Cleaning my loan euphonium

    Hi,

    I’m new to this forum, have been learning Euphonium now for about 6 months or so with my kids. We go to a local band who loaned us some instruments, I’ve got an old Besson BE765 which is very nice to play.

    I’ve been reading a bit about cleaning a euphonium recently, just worked my way through the Really Cleaning Your Horn thread (loved the lizard tale) - am I right in thinking a good bath would be in order (its probably not been bathed in a very long time), with warm water rather than hot. I feel a bit nervous doing it with a loan instrument, but as long as I take it apart and put it back together it should all be fine? How do you dry the inside of the tubing? I’ve got a cleaning brush and polishing cloth on order now so hoping that should be enough. I’m in the UK so I’m guessing a bit of Fairy dishwashing liquid should be ok (I don’t recognise the US brands mentioned on this thread).

    Is there any other advice you can give?

    Thanks

    David

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
    Posts
    1,870
    David,

    Welcome to the forum! What I generally do to clean my horn thoroughly:

    Remove all the slides (make sure to note which slide goes where, the orientation if you happen to have any slides with the same size legs), remove the valves (again, note which valve is which) along with caps, bottoms, springs. I put all the first valve stuff together, all the second valve stuff together, etc., and have them in order so I always know what is what. Nothing wrong with putting the stripped down horn directly in the bathtub with warm, mild soapy water covering the whole horn. If it has not been cleaned in a long while, probably the area needing the most cleaning is the lead pipe from your mouthpiece to where it goes into the first valve chamber. You will need a "snake" (a long flexible wire like gizmo with brushes on each end. You run that through the lead pipe, and if you watch when it enters the first valve chamber, you may see a bunch of gunk. There are many products (brushes, snakes, etc.) to use to run through the slides and other tubes to clean out gunk. Do this on as many tubes as you can. Make sure you use a good brush/swab to clean the inside of the valve chambers. While your slides are out of the horn, run a snake through them along with the soapy water. I have a walk in shower and to rinse my horn, I run water down the bell then let it fill up until the water comes out where the main tuning slide goes. I do this a few times and turn the horn over and over to let the water drain out. I do the shower routine after I have had the horn in the soapy bathtub water and have cleaned out as much tubing as possible. If you don't have a shower, then drain the tub and use a bucket to rinse the horn. Turning the horn over and over several times (while carefully holding it - using rubber gloves like you do for hand washing dishes helps hold onto the horn), will drain most water. Dry the horn with a soft towel. No real need to worry much about any water left in the horn. As long as you turn the horn several times, dry as much as you can, you should be fine. Your own playing puts moisture in the horn. It is not a bad idea to leave your horn out of the case for a while to aid in drying. Clean all of the valves thoroughly. Avoid getting the felts soaked. I usually take the valves apart (remove valve buttons and any pads/corks/etc. - remember how to reassemble them!). I also have a brush I use to run through all the valve ports. Clean the valve bottom caps good, too, as they are usually gunky. Even clean the springs. Reassemble the slides and add grease to them. I usually put grease on each leg, then run each leg separately into the tubing and do a little in and out and turning to spread the grease. I do that with each leg individually, then put the slide all the way in. I wipe off any excess grease once the slide is all the way in with a rag or paper towel. You will have to remember to pull your slides out to where you usually have them set for good intonation. Put the valves all back together and apply your valve oil. If your horn has a lacquer finish, you are pretty much done, but may wish to run a soft cloth over the finish. With silver plated instruments, there are many different products to shine your horn and remove tarnish. Take a look on this forum and search in the maintenance area for cleaning silver plated instruments.

    That's pretty much what I do every few months to keep my horn clean. Hope that works for you.
    Last edited by John Morgan; 08-22-2016 at 10:03 AM.
    John Morgan
    The U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) 1971-1976
    Adams E3 Custom Series Euphonium, 1956 B&H Imperial Euphonium,
    1973 F. E. Olds & Son Studio Model T-31 Baritone
    Adams TB1 Tenor Trombone, Yamaha YBL-822G Bass Trombone
    Year Round Except Summer:
    Kingdom of the Sun (KOS) Concert Band, Ocala, FL (Euphonium)
    KOS Brass Quintet (Trombone, Euphonium)
    Summer Only:
    Rapid City Municipal Band, Rapid City, SD (Euphonium)
    Rapid City New Horizons Band (Euphonium)

  3. #3
    Thanks, that's so helpful much appreciated

    David

  4. The only other thing I'd recommend getting is a trombone snake (which John already mentioned).
    1905 Boosey Class A Euphonium-Wick SM4M
    Yamaha 301M Marching Baritone-Schilke 52
    1960 Conn 11J-Conn Helleberg
    1961 Conn 14J-Vincent DFL
    2015 King 2341-Bach Corp. 24AW
    Olds O95 Sousaphone-King 26

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