Re: sticky valves, new tuba


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Posted by John Swensen on October 12, 2001 at 14:11:42:

In Reply to: sticky valves, new tuba posted by Mike M. on October 10, 2001 at 20:45:44:

Yamaha valves are notorious for sticking, but there are a few things you may want to try.
After trying them, myself, I went from re-oiling every 20 minutes to going close to a week
between oilings (B&S valves [actually, made by Nirschl]). By the way, I always brush my teeth between eating (or drinking anything but water) and playing.

If the horn is dirty inside, crud will continually clog the valves; try snaking out the leadpipe, all slides, and tubes between the valves with big enough bristles to contact the tubes. Rinse the slides in warm, plain water (no soap or detergent), and blow water through the leadpipe, through the valves and slides (one valve depressed at a time), and out the tuning slide tube (with tuning slide removed). I find that I need to do this about once a month, or right after playing an outdoor gig. The valves will need cleaning after this.
Note: a new horn is almost certain to have all sorts of manufacturing residues (metal dust, lead or pitch bending compound, polishing compound, solder flux, etc.) lurking in bends and crevices in the joints. I am inclined to suggest that scrubbing with a snake and lots of dishwashing detergent (Dawn for Dishes), followed by lots of rinsing and scrubbing, will do more good than harm to a new horn.

Piston valves tend to push dirt past the ends, where it accumulates down by the spring or above, especially in the felt under the valve cap. Removing the top and bottom caps and pulling a wet washcloth (terrycloth, about 6" square) through the casings gets them pretty clean, and rinsing and wiping the valves, especially on top and under the upper valve cap, really helps. The bottom valve cap needs careful wiping or scrubbing to get dirt out of the crevices. With the possible exception of the bottom valve cap, I avoid soap or detergents. If your felts can handle water (like the Besson rubberized felts I switched to, thanks to Matt Walters), rinsing them off, then squeezing out the water and dirt using a clean tee-shirt helps, also.

I have come to believe that the casings and/or pistons don't work well until they have had a chance to "glaze" over. A new valve or one that has just been lapped will have a very open surface to the metals, which seems to stick if you look at them sideways. Soap and detergents seem to remove this glaze, so I have stopped using them on the valves. Sometimes you just need to be patient about waiting for the valves to settle in, but be vigilant about keeping the valves wiped off.

Sometimes valves will stick because the oil is too thin; I think it gets washed off by all that warm, moist air flowing through the horn. I have had a lot of success putting a little machine oil (way oil for lathes and milling machines is my favorite) in my Al Cass (about 50 drops of medium way oil to a bottle of Al Cass, or 80 drops of #2 spindle oil); automotive oil has been recommended by others. This feels a bit slower than straight Al Cass, but it stays that way, and doesn't stick after a few minutes. Anyway, the heavy oil tends to build up in the valves, preventing the sticking. If it gets too sluggish, I use straight Al Cass for a while to wash some residue away. This blend, by the way, does not stink and make me sick, the way Blue Juice does.

At times, valves stick because there is too much oil, not too little. As an experiment, wipe a sticking valve off with your (clean) hand and put the valve back in, dry. Often there is just enough oil left on the casing walls to prevent sticking for the rest of an evening.

Last, pushing the valves straight down really helps. Trying to keep your fingers lightly on the buttons when the valves are not depressed seems to help your fingers "remember" where they should be. If the valve button position really doesn't match your hands, consider using offset buttons or extensions to allow a more confortable hand position.


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