TromboneChat

I bought a Holton TR180 several months back -- used, of course. The slide is a bit stiff, which I believe to be the product of someone stepping on the inner tubing sometime in its history (it was made in 1976, according to the serial number).

Except for the slide, this bass trombone is a dream come true. Thick, beautiful sound with plenty of weight.

I dropped it off at The Slide Doctor's workshop and he kept it for a week. He really did perform magic on that slide. The slide moves two or three times better than before, and he charged me a very reasonable price. It's definitely playable.

But I'm persnickety about slides. I know there is sometime in the future when I will try to find a more perfect reunion.

Here are the available options I can conjure up in my mind:

1. Find a used TR180 with a better slide and buy it. However, others on this board have told me that Holton slides are not necessarily interchangeable. They won't necessarily fit even on the bell section of the same model.

2. Buy a new slide from Holton. But, same problem. Won't necessarily fit. And a music shop told me Holton wants $2,000 for a brand new slide. Last I checked, even premium slides like Edwards sell cheaper than that.

3. Brings me to my most recent hope. Can a good trombone technician simply replace the inner slides with new ones? In theory, it wouldn't need to be made by Holton, though if they do, that's fine with me. But I don't see why any inner pipe with the Holton TR180 0.625 diameter wouldn't work.

If someone has experience in this untrodden forest, I'm happy to learn.

Thanks,

Lee Dise

I am in the process of finding tubes for a 180 slide. I own several of these and I've done everything possible to try and fix many of my 180 slides. Commenting on the above points I would not do #1 and definitely not try/do #2.
Regarding #3. If you have a great slide etch who can take measurements of what you currently have you might be able to order inner tubes that are close to what you need. If not you can replace both inners and outers with something like Bach or something from M&K Drawing. There is a thread on here somewhere that I started asking techs about slide tube replacement. Look for it and read away!!!

Thanks!

LeeDise wrote: Tue Jun 17, 2025 2:27 pmThanks!

Try this:

viewtopic.php?t=39484

A good tech can easily replace the inner tubes. I once had it done by George Strucel to a 3B, and though the result was fantastic, at the end the issue was that the outer slide had been too damaged to not work very well anyway. His words were the locally famous: "Ouch, ouch, that doesn't look good! It will never be the same again. But hand it in and come back in a couple of days, and I'll see what I can do." (Roughly translated from a very good american-accented Swedish) Of course he worked magic into everything he did, and every repair he did for me was exquisite. We don't have too many really good brass repair shops in Sweden anymore....

That slide was over all the best I've ever had, but since all potential replacement King slides I've tried since then have been disappointing, that superb bell lies unplayed....