Posted by Lesley McClelland on March 05, 2002 at 15:53:49:
In Reply to: Re: Cleaning and polishing a tuba posted by Bryan on March 05, 2002 at 02:35:52:
Actually, I had previously bathed the inside of the tuba - I did the whole towels in the bathtub thing and dumped some warm, very (dish) soapy water down the bell and turned it over and over til it started to come out the lead pipe, then I let it sit and think about what it had done for about 20 minutes, then turned it back over and over again til everything came gushing out the bell (actually, the bell-end, since I had the presence of mind to take the recording bell off first). Nothing solid came out (ie underwear, toupees or rodents) but about 4 quarts of sludge followed the water out. Then I hooked up the bathtub spigot to a hose and flushed the horn well, until the water ran clear. In all the times I have cleaned out instruments (I used to work cleaning up rental horns in a shop, but only woodwinds) I have NEVER seen stuff like this come out of a horn. But now it's clean, and shiny and doesn't seem to have an odor anymore...although it did raise a stink while I was cleaning it out that wafted out over the rest of the house...
Rest assured that whenever I play this tuba, I brush my teeth fisrt and wash my hands, and wipe it off afterwards. I will NEVER go through this ordeal again!!!