TromboneChat

About a decade ago, I picked up a flyer for something called Quick Horn Rinse. I have a shower, not a tub, and while I rinse (with distilled water) and swab the slide after playing, I only give the whole horn a rinse every third blue moon or so--my memory ain't what it used to be. So I was interested in the product, but the owner of the music store where I found the flyer wasn't particularly impressed with it.

The thing appears to be no longer available. Anyone here ever use one? It's hard to tell from the pix on the flyer but I wonder if it wasn't simply an adapter for a small hose. Is just pouring water down the bell all I need, probably with some kind of cleaning agent mixed in?

I rarely clean the bell section. A lot of valves are very sensitive. I clean slides in the shower with a small hose hooked up to my shower head. Use a flexible snake to clean the outer slide crook and a straight rod with a cloth for the insides of the outer tubes. Water and Dawn soap.

Anything more than that, take it to a tech for a Chem bath. If you know what you're doing you can service your own valves, especially older rotaries. But if you're looking for a quick rinse buddy, you might want to let someone else do it.
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Tx for the reply. The music store scene in Denver is oddly moribund, with the place I used to take the horn for service going out of business abut 2 years ago. There are precious few alternative shops, which is hard to believe for a metro this size.

I couldn't remember why I'd bought that bottle of Dawn that's been sitting on the counter all this time.

I have a quick horn rinse that I have used for a number of years. Although I will say I have never used it on any of my personal trombones. I am a music teacher and I find that that device helps me clean many instruments in a small amount of time. FWIW I stopped using the soap that came with the device years ago and mostly use Dawn dish soap now.

Hope that helps.

Could you describe it/post a photo for us? I'm curious as to what it looks like.

Attached is a picture of the item. There is a large bore nozzle and a small bore nozzle for trumpet and french horn. It honestly looks a lot like a car wash soap sprayer to me. What is different is that there is no mechanism to speed up the water. The water/soap mixture is not accelerated through the nozzle like it would be on a normal hose nozzle.

I suspect these two items would recreate the QHR system:
https://www.amazon.com/Cleaning-trombon ... B08D1SG4HM
https://www.amazon.com/Carrand-90056-No ... B002G246KU

I've never used either. But it's hard to beat the power of soaking something in warm water. From my experience in hand-washing dishes, a good soak is more potent than a deluge.

Tx for the picture (Vader voice: Impressive). Yeah, I'd prefer to soak, but have no tub. The Carrand brings back memories of parent-mandated car washings.

I've been known to fill up the outer slide with water, and hang it on a hook (or just lean it in a corner) to soak vertically.
I have a tub, but don't like bending over that far. I've considered getting a plastic container designed for under-bed storage so that I can do washing at countertop level, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. The ones that are long enough for a slide are annoyingly big in the other dimensions.

hyperbolica wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2026 12:08 am I clean slides in the shower with a small hose hooked up to my shower head. Use a flexible snake to clean the outer slide crook and a straight rod with a cloth for the insides of the outer tubes. Water and Dawn soap.

This is pretty much what I do, except I do it in a utility sink with a fairly short section of garden hose with a combination shut-off valve and short conical nozzle. The hand slide I clean in the usual way. And I use Simple Green instead of Dawn -- though I'm in the process of switching over to the (purple) Simple Green Pro because it's more targeted to metals like brass and aluminum.

Trombones -- even double-valve basses -- are so much simpler to clean than tubas that I actually enjoy it. And so I do it with some regularity. For the tubas I used to play, I built a "tuba cleaning machine" that involved a 5 gallon bucket, some filter material, an aquarium pump, plastic tubing, and the aforementioned hose. I'd set the tuba up (in a floor stand) with that contraption in a bath tub and just recycle the cleaning solution (again, Simple Green and warm water) for 20-30 minutes, making sure I did that sufficiently through each of the valve circuits as well. It was pretty interesting to see how much came out, and how long it took. Then snake out what I could, rinse, with clean water cycled through the horn for several minuates, drain, and set aside to dry for a while. But that event happened only twice a year.

I've not had the valves apart on my Getzen bass trombone, but I think the time is approaching for that. With my old horn, I discovered that if I didn't do that, a certain amount of gunk would migrate to the top and bottom of the valve bodies, and hang out there around the spindle shafts. Not much, if I subjected the valves to regular flushings, but still some. So it's good to clean them specifically at least periodically, and check for any other issues.

haven't pulled the trigger yet.

NPI. Hey, it could be worse; you could mash the trigger(s) down, as Denson Paul Pollard says in a YT.

After I swab the slide, I hang the parts on a doorknob to dry overnight. I wonder: if those and your right-side-up full ones ever made contact, would that produce a matter/anti-matter explosion?

I'll probably take @hyperbolica's advice and rinse out the bell section every so often. I play in a band once a week and have suspended lessons due to economic realities, so the horn doesn't get heavy use.

So, any leads on where in Denverland one can get chem cleans done? I bought the horn at a place down south, in Castle Rock, but wasn't happy with some work they did subsequently and don't want to give them any more business.

If you really want to clean your trombone slide, valves, etc. I'd recommend using Alisyn Solvent Cleaner. It was developed specifically to clean brass instruments and claims not to leave any residue..
I have a slide that is, for all intents and purposes, new. I'd always had a problem with slow action from 1st to 3rd position. I was able to determine that the problem was in the lower outer slide tube about 5" from the bottom of the tube. I couldn't see any dents. I had cleaned it the normal way with a cleaning rod many times with no improvement. I sprayed some of the Alisyn solvent on the end of the cloth on the cleaning rod, scrubbed the area in question in the outer slide tube, repeated the process several times and voila, the slide now works like a dream. I'm thinking that there was crud in the tube when the slide left the factory.

Kewl, thanks. I'd forgotten a long-ago teacher using Pledge on his slide. Is that still a thing?

wayne88ny wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2026 6:49 am If you really want to clean your trombone slide, valves, etc. I'd recommend using Alisyn Solvent Cleaner.

Hmmm ..... The Alisyn Solvent does not seem to be generally available any longer. No general announcement of its availability, but most places that used to carry it now list it as "unavailable". There appear to be four bottles of it left available on Amazon, but those are from Music Medic, and the Music Medic site itself hangs when trying to check out. It appears to have disappeared from other sites on which it was previously listed. A search for Alisyn products on the Aerospace Lubricants site yields "No products found".

LanceHandsome wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2026 9:02 am Tx for the reply. The music store scene in Denver is oddly moribund, with the place I used to take the horn for service going out of business abut 2 years ago. There are precious few alternative shops, which is hard to believe for a metro this size.

I couldn't remember why I'd bought that bottle of Dawn that's been sitting on the counter all this time.

Are you referring to Meis? That place was the best, and worth the drive. Since he went out of business, I've brought my horn to Rocky Mountain Music Repair in Broomfield. It's okay as an alternative and fairly reasonably priced, but I agree that Meis was definitely a gem.

re you referring to Meis? That place was the best, and worth the drive. Since he went out of business, I've brought my horn to Rocky Mountain Music Repair in Broomfield. It's okay as an alternative and fairly reasonably priced, but I agree that Meis was definitely a gem.

I've read of Meis, but never went there. I bought my bass at C**M*T in Castle Rock. Due to an unfortunate and expensive happening there, I decided I'd never go back. Now Kolacny's gone! Thanks for the tip on Rocky Mountain Music Repair.

LanceHandsome wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2026 7:37 am Kewl, thanks. I'd forgotten a long-ago teacher using Pledge on his slide. Is that still a thing?

Not since they changed the formula.

Changed the formula? Is nothing constant in this world?

Once it is clean....

I have gotten off on the right foot with my newest horn. Before playing (and usually after) I run water from the nearest tap through my slide. I use a mouthwash on my mouthpiece (and mouth) before playing too. About once a week I use the cleaning rod and cheesecloth on the inside of the outer slide to get off the oil build up. I've never had such a clean horn. It is very nice compared to my ancient Bach 42 that was... less clean. I'm giving it the same treatment now that it has been acid bathed.