Trombone Slide Lubricants

[wayne88ny]

I've compiled a list of every trombone slide lubricant I could find. I only included the ones labeled just as trombone slide lubricants and did not include the ones labeled valve/rotor/slide oil.

Superslick Slide Cream
Getzen Side Cream
Bach Slide Cream
Giardinelli Trombone Slide Cream

Roche Thomas Slide Cream
Yamaha Slide Cream
Monster Trombone Slide Cream
Libretto Premium Slide Cream
Trombotine
Selmer Liquid Slide Cream

Superslick Plus
Bach Slide Cream Additive
Hetman Hydro Slide
Herco Pure Formula Slide Oil
Holton Slide oil
La Tromba P3 TROMBONE SLIDE OIL
Yamaha Slide Lubricant
Ultra-Pure Trombone Slide Lube renamed Alessi Trombone Slide Lube
Reka Super Slide Trombone Slide Lube
Slide-O-Mix Trombone Slide Lubricant (2 part)
Slide-O-Mix Trombone Slide Lubricant, Light (2 part)
Slide-O-Mix Trombone Rapid Comfort (1 part)
MusicNomad's T-Slide Lubricant
Superslick AlphaSynth Trombone Handslide Lube
Berp Bio Lube for Trombone Handslides
Superslick Trombone Slide Oil
Superslick Trombone Slide Oil, Light Viscosity
Superslick Trombone Slide Oil w/Silicone, Light Viscosity
Red Apple drawtube oil
Champion Slide-Ezy Trombone Slide Lubricant
Venture 103 Premium Slide Oil

Discontinued Poducts

Silk Stockings Trombone Slide Lubricant
King Premium Slide Oil
King Trombone Slide Cream
King Liquid Slide Cream (Milky white Liquid)
Buress Industries Superslick Slide Cream
Conn Superslick Slide Cream (marketing agreement with Biddlecome)
Superslick Slide Cream – SuperSlick Products Company Ramsey, NJ
Conn Formula 3 Slide Cream
Conn Formula 3 (Drops)

My reasoning for listing the Superslick made by James Biddlecome as discontinued:
James Biddlecome developed Superslick. It’s my understanding he personally made Superslick. It was a great product. He stopped making it when he sold his company to American Way Marketing. The current Superslick Slide Cream is not nearly as good as when Biddlecome was making it.

I use the Roche Thomas slide cream and SuperSlick Plus on most of my slides. I use the Yamaha Slide lube on slides where the slide clearance is either loose or very tight. I bought some of the LIbretto Slide Cream and have been favorably impressed. I have the Alessi (Ultra Pure) lubricant but haven't gotten around to using it. I'm curious about the La Tromba P3 because I really like the La Tromba T2 valve.

What genius at American Way Marketing decided it was a good idea to put SuperSlick slide oil in a spray bottle?

Your additions, preferences, and comments are welcome.

[tbonesullivan]

Pretty much all slide lubricants can be separated into the "pre slide O mix" and "post slide O Mix" eras. I don't know whether any new creams have been developed since that came out, and most of those were just attempts to make ponds cold cream.

Since SOM came out, everything has moved to silicone / surfactant type stuff, with or without teflon particles. I will say that for the most part I've gone to the new lubricants, except for some horns that just seem to like Trombotine or Superslick. Usually these have nickel outer slides.

[JohnL]

You've got Red Apple Drawtube Oil listed twice.

You've also got me wondering if the Holton slide oil of today is basically the same formulation as Frank Holton's Original "Electric Oil". From what I can tell online, it's still petroleum-based (rather than synthetic).

[slidesix]

These might be minor additions or just me being pedantic.
- Pond's Cold Cream -- aka original Trombotine
- Spray/Spritz of Water -- in some cases it is a necessary addition to make the other parts work or it functions as the actual lube/sliding part of the combined formulation

I also think I remember reading someone using Lemon Pledge or something off the wall like that in one case, I swear. I wouldn't add this one though.

Feed free to include them or simply ignore this post, too.


I am glad you included the Selmer Liquid Slide cream and the Holton Slide oil. My old Selmer Bundy "Designed by Vincent Bach" used to LOVE both of those lubricants even more than Yamaha slide lube (purple bottle) or Trombotine. There are order horns that really like those old school slide oils!

Other than my old antique Holton which likes Slide oils,I tend to use the 2 part Slide-O-Mix the most. I find I like it a little bit better than Yamaha in the purple bottle and better than the 1 bottle of Rapid Comfort. I think I really like the ability to dial in the viscosity with the 2-part mix (so far). I admit I haven't yet tried most on the list. I thought Berp's Bio line to be pretty good, too. I haven't gotten into synthetics yet. I've only been at this again for less than a year as a part time hobby player.

Thanks for assembling this list for a us and requesting comments.

[JohnL]

These might be minor additions or just me being pedantic.
- Pond's Cold Cream -- aka original Trombotine
- Spray/Spritz of Water -- in some cases it is a necessary addition to make the other parts work or it functions as the actual lube/sliding part of the combined formulation

I also think I remember reading someone using Lemon Pledge or something off the wall like that in one case, I swear. I wouldn't add this one though.

I've played with people who used Pledge® plus water; the smell can be an issue, plus it can build up over time. I've also played with a couple people who used car wax (once again, with water). Long term buildup is problem with that, too.

[dbwhitaker]

If we're going to add Pledge then we also ought to mention SimpleCoat and RainX. https://www.trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?p=197053

[JohnL]

If we're going to add Pledge then we also ought to mention SimpleCoat and RainX. https://www.trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?p=197053

I'd suggest restricting the list to products intended for use as slide lubricants...

[tbonesullivan]

I don't know whether lemon pledge has the same formulation that it used to, but it basically is thin silicone, like the smaller slide o mix bottle, and like the small bottle that came with the Conn "Formula 3" treatment.

IIRC, the recommended slide lubrication routine from Edwards used to be Trombotine with a drop from the smaller SOM bottle, but I think now it's just trombotine.