Effect of worn valves

[hyperbolica]

I have an Olds flugabone, which plays nice enough, but the sound is very dark and it doesn't play as loud as other instruments. It's technically called a "marching trombone", but wouldn't a marching instrument be pretty loud? The instrument is pretty old and beat up, and when you pull the slides, it doesn't hold a vacuum very long or at all, so the valves are obviously worn.

So my question is what are the effects of worn valves, and what is involved in fixing that?

[davewerden]

Well, the first thing I notice is a lack of "center" as I play a horn with worn valves. I suppose that could affect projection.

If Olds modelled this after standard trombone specs, that could be part of the issue. The valves and curves would add resistance you would not experience from a slide trombone, so you can't go for the same blowing style as trombone. And the smaller, cylindrical bore may "back up" on a euphonium player. You may need to go for a much faster/narrower airstream and go for the edge! Also you would want to use a smaller mouthpiece for a horn like this to facilitate the fast airstream and match the smaller bore.

[hyperbolica]

Interestingly, I did settle on a smaller mouthpiece with this than I would usually use for this bore (0.515) on a regular trombone.

I don't think the sound is particularly unfocused, so maybe the valves aren't that bad.

If I were to want to fix leaky valves, how would I do it?

[davewerden]

If I were to want to fix leaky valves, how would I do it?

Use heavy valve oil, which helps to seal the gap. I think Hetman has one (#3 "Classic") and perhaps one other brand I can't recall.

[MarChant]

It depends how bad the valves are worn.

I have several very old (up to 160 years old) cornets, with various gradations of valve wear. While heavy valve oil is a good quick fix, it is only temporary as it will leak out of the valves sooner or later. When that happens, the tone quality changes from clear and centered to fuzzy and dull. Also the instruments sounds off, out of tune. Pour some oil in and it sounds great again, for as long as it lasts.

If the valves are extremely worn to the extent that the oil doesn't last a playing session, you could consider having the valves replated. But that is very expensive. Or find some second-hand valves that are less worn.

I use La Tromba T3 Heavy valve oil, and before that I used Steiner Classic Piston valve oil. Both are good, although Steiner is a little pricy for my taste which is why I stuck with La Tromba.