GENERAL: Snake brush came off, stuck in 1st slide tubing!

[superted]

I was cleaning my euph with a new snake brush, and the brush part came off the sneak and lodged itself in the 1st slide branch where the branch comes out of the valve casing!

I'm looking for reassurances that it can be extracted by a repair person!

I've tried blowing it out, and pumping it out with water to no avail...

Also tried wire hook which ended up pushing it in more...

[ghmerrill]

Without actually seeing what the situation is, it's not possible to tell what it will take; but you're only dollars away in one way or another. A good repair tech should be able to do it in the least invasive way possible, and may likely be able to scope it before deciding how to approach the problem.

I typically don't use a snake except for tuning slides and the lead pipe -- depending on my flushing apparatus to clean out everything else. Gunk typically doesn't collect except at the bottoms of slides, and what does can be flushed if you do it right. Not worth the risk to me to screw something up or get stuck in order to clean a portion of tubing that almost certainly doesn't require internal scrubbing. Also, if you clean pretty regularly, you'll discover that snaking doesn't accomplish much because there isn't much there to accomplish. At least that's my experience.

[RickF]

I'm pretty sure a brass repair tech will be able to remove it. If I understand your description of where it is lodged, maybe a fairly stiff nylon cable tie would get it out. These are flexible but stiff enough to push around curves, but won't scratch the brass. It can be bent some to go around corners. I think if you attack it from the valve casing and push it out out toward the slide.

[DaveBj]

That should mellow the sound considerably :-O

[superted]

I'm pretty sure a brass repair tech will be able to remove it. If I understand your description of where it is lodged, maybe a fairly stiff nylon cable tie would get it out. These are flexible but stiff enough to push around curves, but won't scratch the brass. It can be bent some to go around corners. I think if you attack it from the valve casing and push it out out toward the slide.

Cable ties from valve casing worked! Thanks Rick!

[RickF]

Cable ties from valve casing worked! Thanks Rick!

Oh great! Glad to hear it.