Posted by Gary Swart on February 15, 2004 at 13:25:31:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Valve Oil vs. Light Machine Oil posted by humble on February 15, 2004 at 10:58:11:
I really don't know for fact what the old timers used, my guess would be kerosine. But, remember, the valves they used were likely not turned as precise as modern day ones. I have an acquaintance who many years ago found an old (then) helicon stuck in a storeroom in a school. The valves leaked so bad he had to use SAE 30 motor oil to seal 'em up enough to play! Story on me now. A fair number of years ago, I took over a small school's band. No one had played the sousaphones for years, so I undertook getting them playable. I washed and polished them, pulled the slides and lube them with Vasoline, then I sprayed the valves with WD40. Imagine my surprise when the valves wouldn't move! Fortunately, after a good cleaning and proper valve oil application, they worked fine. I later learned not to use Vasoline, but that's another story.