Help with New Horn "Break-In"?

[2LIP]

Been playing for 28 years and never owned a brand new horn, only used instruments. I ordered one in late July and expect delivery mid September. I was reading in Clint Pops' McLaughlin's book that new horns should be "broken in" with a coating of oil on the inside tubes to fill in any gaps and make the horn respond better. I guess that the old timers used to fill them with milk and leave that in the tubes for a few days. Does anyone else know anything about this? Now I know why my 1957 Olds Studio still smells so bad.... spoiled milk! Seriously, do we still need to do this, or does the manufacturer do due diligence to make sure that the horns we buy are already "treated"?

Thanks,

The LIP

[Johann24]

Mr. Lip,

I've never heard of anybody using milk to fill in holes, very interesting ! Anyway, what I do is get a leadpipe swab and swipe the leadpipe everyday after playing (this doesn't have anything directly related to break-in, but will help the horn last longer). The valves are the most important thing to break in well. Every day after use, I take them out and wipe them with a clean lint-free cloth or paper towel. Then roll up the before-mentioned lint-free cloth or new square ripped off a paper towel and clean each valve casing. Even if you don't see any gunk, there are microscopic pieces of metal wearing off as the valve laps exactly to the casing. Every once in awhile, wipe the inside of the bottom valve caps--this is where dirt and stuff can accumulate.

These are the only major things I can think of; hope it helps!
_________________
V~Raptor Bb, Standard Weight
Conn 80A Victor Cornet

University of Rochester, Class of 2010

[_ConnMan]

2Lip,

Oil it up, play it hard, wipe it down, and start all over the next day.

Serously, I just oil it down and wipe the pistons off with a soft cloth maybe everyother or every third time I play it for about 3-4 weeks. After that, I occassionaly wipe the pistons and swab the casings maybe once a month and do the once a year trumpet in the tub bath. I had my 26 year old horn Ultra Sonically Cleaned for the first time earlier this summer. It turned out real nice. I might consider doing that once a year now instead.


_________________
ConnMan

[ This Message was edited by: ConnMan on 2003-09-05 19:14 ]

[_PhilPicc]

For the first 2 weeks I would wipe and oil the valves and casing every other day at least. I would also oil the leadpipe and blow the oil thru the horn.

For the first month I would clean the entire horn once a week.

For basic maintenance I would thoroughly clean entire horn once a month. It's surprising what can build up in just a month.

HTH,
Phil
_________________
Philip Satterthwaite

We cannot expect you to be with us all the time, but perhaps you could be good enough to keep in touch now and again."
- Sir Thomas Beecham to a musician during a rehearsal

[bophead]

What PhilipCC said ... except I would do it daily, swab the valves and casing out with alcohol, air dry and then oil at the end of the day, oil liberally throughout the practice day. Wash and air dry once a week for a month anyway. Push a brush through the lead pipe daily. I only drink water tea or coffee (black) while I am playing. Enjoy your new horn!!!

[drunkiq]

when breaking in a new horn, you should shoot some alcass fast valve oild down your leadpipe everday brfore playing and blow moving your valves.... the extra will drain out...-

clr will get rid of that smell on your own horn - just make sure to wash it out well, clr is nasty stuff...

-marc

[trpt-master]

Just [play the damn thing and oil the valves when they stick. Leave the freak show stuff in the kitchen.

In Peace,

TM

[bj]

[TopGun]

I find myself agreeing with TM on this one. Just play it and you will be fine.

TopGun