How (NOT) to clean a Trumpet

[Mamaposaune]

This, from an old (1930's?) trumpet method book.
Maybe they should have added not to light a match!

[JohnL]

This, from an old (1930's?) trumpet method book.
Maybe they should have added not to light a match!

They started adding lead to gasoline in the 1920's, so if those instructions are from the '30's...

[Kbiggs]

This, from an old (1930's?) trumpet method book.
Maybe they should have added not to light a match!

They started adding lead to gasoline in the 1920's, so if those instructions are from the '30's...

So THAT’s why trumpet players have a reputation for being slow!

[robcat2075]

There is an ancient Laurel & Hardy short where they are two sailors who find a pair of women's panties in the park. Soon, two young women wander by searching for something they have lost...

Give this just 98 seconds and it will be on-topic...

[Mamaposaune]

[robcat2075]

If Bruce were still with us he could tell us how common gasoline was once used as a... very ill-advised... solvent for grease, rather like a dry-cleaning fluid.

As it was, 50 years ago, my dad had to explain that situation to me.

[AtomicClock]

I suppose that by the 30's, gasoline was universally available, but maybe nothing else was. A lot more of the US was rural than it is today.

[harrisonreed]

I mean, like dissolves like -- gas works real good. But it's also really dangerous. They used to sell "toys" that were real glass blowing kits, metal forges for melting lead, and literal nuclear reactors to kids back then; using gas to clean your trumpet seems pretty tame.

https://thebulletin.org/virtual-tour/wo ... nium-1950/

[Crazy4Tbone86]

In the late 1970s, I did volunteer work at my church as a teenager (I needed many volunteer hours for scout requirements and to maintain membership in my school’s honor society). The lead custodian had me occasionally wipe down brass hardware throughout the church with gasoline. I had to follow it up with another cleaner to remove the gasoline and its odor. I wore industrial gloves and the gasoline was dispensed from small, manageable plastic bottles. With a cotton rag and a little bit of effort, it actually did a decent job of removing mild tarnish.

I didn’t think about it at the time, but this was just a few years after the switch to unleaded fuels. There were many volunteers over the years who did the same tasks. I imagine that there were probably many before me doing the same task with leaded gasoline.

Traditional valve oil is distilled from crude oil as well. A couple of my teachers referred to valve oil as “scent-less kerosene.” Kerosene is much less volatile than gasoline, but definitely petroleum-based. For those who played instruments in the 1970s or earlier, you will remember that some brands of valve oil had a strong industrial fuel smell. Those makers did not even attempt to make the valve oil scent-less. The Vincent Bach valve oil of the old days (sold in a plastic bottle that looked like a mouthpiece pouch) would stink up an entire rehearsal room if someone used it to oil their valves!

Denatured alcohol (it is mostly ethanol and considered a fuel) is widely used for instrument making and repair. It is a wonderful degreaser. Acetone is also an effective degreaser. However, I am careful in using it around lacquered instruments because it can dissolve some forms of lacquer.

My point of mentioning all these chemicals/fuels is that they have been part of brass instrument manufacturing and maintenance for generations. That being said, if someone asked me today to clean the brass fixtures around my house with gasoline, I would say “no way!” There are far better options.

[brassmedic]

I have a couple old repair books that recommend gasoline to clean instruments. One of them also suggests blowing cigarette smoke through woodwind instruments to find leaks!

[Crazy4Tbone86]

Yep, the cigarette smoke technique was used in the shop I work in (my retirement job) up until a few years ago. The technique was only used two or three times a year on clarinets. It is very effective for finding leaks in tone-hole chimneys, on plastic and wood clarinets.

[brassmedic]

Yep, the cigarette smoke technique was used in the shop I work in (my retirement job) up until a few years ago. The technique was only used two or three times a year on clarinets. It is very effective for finding leaks in tone-hole chimneys, on plastic and wood clarinets.

Wouldn't you need to clean the tar out of the clarinet after doing that? Or do you just leave it smelling like cigarettes?

[harrisonreed]

Yeah that is pretty gross. I let a guy (who was an electric bass player...a really good one, but it turned out he had never played trombone before) try my alto trombone one time. I thought he was going to rinse the mouthpiece or something before he played it, but in hindsight I don't know what I was thinking. He asked to try it, and I just handed it over.

Not only did he not rinse the mouthpiece out, he just immediately put it to his face and started making horrible sounds on it. Then handed it back after a few seconds.

"Wow that thing sucks!" He says, and just walks away.

He was a heavy smoker but hadn't been actively blowing smoke through horn or anything. Took me a long time to get that stench out of it before I felt safe to play the horn again.

[JohnL]

Took me a long time to get that stench out of it before I felt safe to play the horn again.

You shoulda cleaned it with gasoline.