Posted by Rex Roeges on August 26, 2003 at 12:06:35:
In Reply to: rotary valve tuba cleaning posted by Steve in Dallas on August 26, 2003 at 09:35:50:
Here’s something that I do to clean my rotary valves: I take a small, rubber coated fishing weight, tie it to the end of a long (about 7 feet) piece of 15 lb fishing line, and tie the other end to a strip (about 2” x 6”) piece of microfiber cleaning cloth. I remove the main tuning slide and fish the weight through the leadpipe all the way through the valve set, until it comes out. GENTLY pull the line through, so that the cloth “scrubs the valves”. I like to do this every few weeks, going through the valves both ways. This is not meant to replace a periodic chemical cleaning, but it certainly makes a big difference when my rotars start to get a little slow.
BTW, the Brass Bow website describes, in some detail, what they do for cleaning of tubas, it's pretty neat. They've worked on my horns and have always done a first rate job.
Regards,
Rex