Giving your Brass Instrument a Bath By Jean Wehrwein and Michelle Hoff

Cleaning Instructions Clean your instrument once a month. Find time when you can work carefully without interruption around a bath tub or something comparable.

Remove your Valves Take out the valves and valve caps. Set them aside in order on a clean towel or by the sink. Valves do not go in the tub.

Prepare the bath Put a towel down in the bottom of the tub before adding any water. This will prevent your instrument from scratching up the tub. Fill tub 1/2 full with luke warm water. DO NOT use hot water as it will flake off the shiny lacquer on your instrument. Add a few drops of dish soap such as Dawn, Ivory, etc.

Remove your slides Pull out all four valve slides and put the slides and the instrument in the tub to soak for a few minutes. Also put the body of the horn in the tub to soak.

Cleaning the mouthpiece Scrub your mouthpiece out with the mouthpiece brush. Rinse and set aside to dry. You should clean your mouthpiece once per week and especially after you have been sick.

Cleaning the Slides Use the coil cleaner and put it through each one of your slides. Make sure to also scrub off the feet of the slides to remove all grease. Rinse each slide and set aside to dry.

Cleaning the Leadpipe Use the coil cleaner to scrub out the leadpipe of your instrument. Do this several times as this is one of the dirtiest parts of you instrument Scrub the insides of your valve casings to remove any oil. Rinse your horn well and set aside to dry. You should get help from a parent to make sure you have emptied all the water from your horn.

Cleaning the Valves Carefully scrub your valves and valve caps with your coil cleaner. Rinse and set aside to dry in order. Try not to get the felts wet.

Putting the Valves Together Replace the valve caps Put a spring in each valve. Oil your valves and put them back in your instrument. It is a good idea to put a drop of grease on the threads of your valve caps so that they do not get stuck. Make sure to not over-tighten your valve caps.

Replacing the Slides Grease the feet of each slide and put them back in your instrument. Do not push the slides in all the way. All slides should be pulled out slightly. The tuning slide should be pulled out a half inch.

How often do I give my Instrument a bath? You should give your instrument a bath once every month. Don’t forget to vacuum out your case.