Posted by Joe S. on August 19, 1999 at 00:06:42:
In Reply to: MY FOURTH VALVE STICKS!!! posted by Chris Daniels on August 18, 1999 at 17:17:07:
Is it a piston tuba with nylon guides? Sometimes, those nylon guides get a little bit messed up (nicked) and make pistons stick. If the problem is actually the piston and the casing (not the guide), a good repairman can probably make you very happy after he goes after it with a bit of lapping compound (or Lava soap suds) and the right touch. If the tuba is new, the vendor should reimburse you for the visit to the repair guy. Remember though, that this time of the year repairmen are obligated up to their ears, so you may have to wait for the services of a good one. If the valves are pistons, are there brown deposits on them? This happens sometimes on new monel pistons when the new yellow brass casings are oxidizing and turning brown for the first time. If your valves have these brown deposits on them, probably the reason that 1, 2, and 3 aren't sticking is that you use them more and are "breaking them in". If the vendor is out of town and says that you have to send it back to them for service, tell them that they are full of beans.
P.S. As a repairman, I am capable of giving instruments "chemical baths", but I don't believe in them, unless an instrument has lime (hard white junk) in it, which will tend to ruin (dezinctify - "red-rot") brass. Doing one of those "chemical baths" just to turn the inside of an instrument from brown back to yellow is silly, in my view.
Have you considered using 1 & 3 ? (sorry - bad joke. Good luck!)