Posted by Leland on October 11, 2000 at 00:45:24:
In Reply to: Marching Band!! posted by Relena Peacecraft on October 10, 2000 at 15:59:39:
At least you're not playing a woodwind (imagine what the weather is doing to all those pads in the woodwind section!).
We didn't have protective pads of any sort on ours, which may have made them more weather-ignorant by not giving moisture any places to grow stuff.
A sousie shouldn't be taking a beating unless it's being either mistreated or getting nailed by an errant rifle toss or flag move. Weather is not a problem (unless it's hail or lightning), because, of course, rain & snow is just water, and the worst it can do is make spots or age the felts more quickly.
Speaking of aging felts -- they can be replaced with fresh ones as necessary. They were never meant to be permanent anyway.
Freezing weather causes an actual problem, though. We used a "drinking liquor" called Everclear (190 proof!) as a non-freezing valve oil substitute. It works so well that the sousie can sit for an entire football quarter without being touched (the football team wan't all that great) and the valves stay entirely limber. IF you do let your valves freeze, BE CAREFUL with them -- warm them up before trying to push the buttons... and NEVER hit the valves to try to get them moving.
I know that some people won't believe the Everclear recommendation, but I'm going to stick by it to my grave -- I need solid proof to believe in anything, and gollee, it works!