Finally upgraded my Slide lube.

[Bloo]

I've been using Slid-o-mix since I've been playing trombone. It's always served me well. However, it started getting expensive to oil all 3 of my horns with it weekly.
Finally got the Yamaha Liquid slide oil a month ago, and the difference is night and day. Not only do I have to oil far less often, but the action is so much smoother. It's so much easier to apply and the response is instant.
I could never go back.
My Eastman slide went from decent to one of the best slides I've had in my hand.
I could gush about how nice it feels for hours.

[Doubler]

Thanks for the recommendation. When my Slide-o-Mix gets used up, I'll give it a try.

[HeyMan]

Yamaha Trombone Slide Lubricant (YAC-1021P). This, with a spritz of water, works amazingly well! It's recommended by some guy named Andy Martin, whoever he is. /S

[Amconk]

I just made this upgrade today. Fully cleaned my shires slide first, then did just the Yamaha lube and a few spritzes of water. I could not believe the difference. Amazingly fast and quiet.

[JLivi]

Yamaha is far superior to slide o mix. I love using the Yamaha slide oil.

If you’re looking for something to not use that often I love trombotine too. And t lasts forever! But Yamaha is definitely the way to go.

[tbonesullivan]

Were you guys using the Two part slide O-mix, or the rapid comfort?

[bbocaner]

My big problem with Yamaha is that on slides that don't get used every day it tends to dry out and turn into this extremely hard residue on the stockings that I have trouble removing. Ideally I should be wiping off my slides after I use them but once in a while after a gig something that isn't my main instrument sits in the case for a while and when I do get it back out I've got a huge problem on my hands. It never happens on my main trombone because I use it often enough, but on small bore, bass, alto, etc. it's a huge problem.

[afugate]

My big problem with Yamaha is that on slides that don't get used every day it tends to dry out and turn into this extremely hard residue on the stockings that I have trouble removing. Ideally I should be wiping off my slides after I use them but once in a while after a gig something that isn't my main instrument sits in the case for a while and when I do get it back out I've got a huge problem on my hands. It never happens on my main trombone because I use it often enough, but on small bore, bass, alto, etc. it's a huge problem.

And I've got to believe the same happens to the insides of the outers, unless I swab down the slide before I put it away.

FWIW, I don't seem to have as much residue with Ultra Pure's slide lube. Nevertheless, I think Yamaha's lube is a better overall lubricant.

--Andy in OKC

[Mikebmiller]

I went the other way, from Yamaha to SOM Rapid comfort. They both work great, but I like the SOM a bit more.

[PaulT]

I just checked the slides of two trombones I use Yamaha slide lubricant on but haven't played for about nine months. Each had a couple small patches of dried residue on the stockings. But, the residue wasn't hard (the slides moved smoothly and quietly). The residue came off easily and completely when wiped with a moistened cloth.

[Burgerbob]

I've used Yamaha only for probably 5 or 6 years now. No water. I don't have any residue that won't come off, even on the horns that sit for longer.

[Doug Elliott]

Some of my horns sit for weeks or months between use. It dries up some but still works.

[Pre59]

I used to have an issue with a residue building up on the slide. I fixed it by putting some ball bearings in the bottle and now I just give it a good shake before each application, works a treat.

[Cmillar]

Whatever works, right?

I've gone to Slide-O-Mix classic from Yamaha. I thought Yamaha was the greatest thing since slice bread, but I have a '70s vintage Bach and the SOM seems to last much longer with the same great action as the Yamaha used to give me.

Also....I would think that everyone is different depending on the amount of excess saliva or gunk you happen to blow into the horn as you play.

So that would require the right slide lube depending on the individual.

All that stuff is pretty cheap....experiment!

[Briande]

I grew kind of depends on the horn. I think old school
Ponds cold cream works best on my ‘50s 2B. Seems like it’s just thick enough to stick in and smooth out the imperfections.

[tbonesullivan]

It seems sometimes like every side is different. My Bach 42T loves classic Slide O mix. My King 3b most certainly does not. Rapid comfort works best on my Kanstul horns, while I use super slick cream for my Yamaha bass, and Yama-snot for my Tenor.

[bbocaner]

huh... it's EXTREMELY hard when it dries up for me. I end up having to do a combination of chipping it off with my fingernail and then wrapping the slide tubes in vinegar-soaked paper towels to soften the last little bit off enough so that it will wipe off. Maybe a combination of the ingredients of the lubrication with my body chemistry?

[CharlieB]

huh... it's EXTREMELY hard when it dries up for me. I end up having to do a combination of chipping it off with my fingernail and then wrapping the slide tubes in vinegar-soaked paper towels to soften the last little bit off enough so that it will wipe off. Maybe a combination of the ingredients of the lubrication with my body chemistry?

Bottom line; it isn't working for you.
Something to try........
I have abandoned all the cream lubes. I now use "Superslick Plus Professional Slide Treatment" on all my horns, old and new. It's a silicone oil. I use one drop to lube both inners.The Superslick needs to be reapplied more frequently than the creams, and it does need to be spritzed with water, but it makes my slides super fast and it leaves no gummy residue.

[bbocaner]

silicone oil seems to be the problem for me, whether it's as a component in Yamaha or the superslick oil or slide-o-mix. I've started using the Berp Bio-Lube which is more of a cream but it's based on beeswax and I haven't had any problems since. Not quite as slick as the yamaha stuff, but it works well.

[HGrobot]

I grew kind of depends on the horn. I think old school
Ponds cold cream works best on my ‘50s 2B. Seems like it’s just thick enough to stick in and smooth out the imperfections.

I have by and large run into the same sort of thing. On my old Getzen it always worked best with Trombotine. I tried Slide O Mix and Superslick on it and neither worked nearly as well. My 3B on the other hand felt like it had maple syrup on it when I tried Trombotine. Slide O Mix works dramatically better on that one.

[bkessler]

After seeing so many people rave about the Yamaha stuff, I finally got some. I've used Slide-O-Mix (both rapid comfort and the 2-bottle one) for years, and it works well by and large, but does tend to build up if I'm not really on top of maintenance, so I figured the Yamaha stuff was worth a shot. I wasn't immediately blown away, but I got a tip from a great player in the area that has made it fantastic. I haven't used water on my slides in years, but he suggested I not only do that, but put some Hetman Hydro-slide in with the water. The combination of that plus the Yamaha lubricant is pretty incredible. I may be a convert.

[Crazy4Tbone86]

I'm wondering if CharlieB realizes that the SuperSlick Plus Professional Slide Treatment is silicone that is supposed to be added to the SuperSlick slide cream. It was never intended to be used alone. I'm not saying it is wrong, I'm just wondering how that would work. If it does work, I'll be buying some industrial silicone in a spray can the next time I shop at a home improvement or auto parts store!

For me the bottled Yamaha bottled Trombone Slide Lubricant got crusty after about 7 or 8 days, even when I used the trombone daily. I wasn't thrilled with it because I was able to get a couple more days of use from the different Slide-O-Mix varieties and good old slide cream. Although.....the Yamaha Trombone Slide Lubricant did have a nice smell!

[BGuttman]

SuperSlick Plus can be used with a lot of different slide creams. I started using it with Trombotine on the advice of a colleague, and also used it with plain cold cream (old Pond's).

[WilliamLang]

i like the yamaha trombone slide lubricant, but i also spray my slide with water and gently wipe it down with a cheesecloth between each application, so i've never had the hardening issue.

any lubricant will work well if you regularly service your slide with a good technician and gently clean with water and a cheesecloth like once a week.

[modelerdc]

I find that any of the standard slide lubes can give good results when used on a good clean slide. But the Yamaha slide oil, as they call it, gives me results as good as any, with the least build up of old stuff on the slide. So it's my favorite.

[harrisonreed]

The new PHAT bottle of yamaha seems to be even better than the one with the weird disk applicator.