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Oh my gosh, I have the same inquiry!! gonk This dude at the local music store said he soaked his trombone in the bathtub once a week. That struck me as odd, 'cause my band director said not to get my instrument wet too much (or was he refering to something else?). Anyway, I'm confused about that, too, if anyone has any info. ^^;

I usually just run that long spiky thing (descriptive, I know) through both pieces and then run water through my mouthpiece. sweatdrop I run it through the dishwasher sometimes, too. XD It works, doesn't it?

Yes yes. Brass can clean their own instruments via bathtubs. 3nodding

This is mainly for trumpets but this can be for most brass instruments. First of all get the water at luke warm temperture. Mostly meaning it's niether hot or cold to the touch. Filll it up so that your trumpet (or other instrument) so it can fill it up in the inside but totally don't over pass it. Take out all your slides and valves. I personally do not put my valves in (as I heard it'll mess up the springs and plus they're meant to be really oily) but I have heard of people who have . . . so yeah. For different instruments depending on the complexity you might want to lay it out in the bathtube so you can tell what slide goes where. I have heard of baritones forgetting which slides do what.

Let it soak in the water for like 20 minutes. Then you need a snake brush. It's usually black tubing/wire type thing with little brushes on the end that come in different lengths. You then stuff it one end of a slide and it's common sense from there. Just brush out all your slides. I know trobomes do have that problem with getting stuff caught in your spit valve so that brings us to the next step- rinsing. Rinse with cold water. If you get in those nasty stuff-caught-in-spit-valve situations just rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse. DO NOT USE SOAP! Do not soak it in soap, do not even put soap in there. THE ONLY people that are allowed to use soap- are trombones on thier outer slide. ONLY a VERY VERY VERY SMALL drop down there and let it sit up right to get up all the gunc and then rinse the hell out of it. They only are allowed to do this. Also do NOT use warm/hot water. This tears away your lacor or makes the silver shift (and you CANNOT fix that once it has been done).

After rinsing let it dry and reoil/grease everything. Mouthpieces- you do not need boiling water. You can just turn on the sink water on all the hot, get some tongs and hold it under that. Also listerine does wonder if you put some down your mouthpiece. Keeps it smelling fresh. Another thing you SHOULD clean your mouth piece everyday- just running water through it and your mouthpiece brush . . . but I mean . . . not like I do that . . . so yeah . . . sweatdrop Also baking soda does get the smell out of your horn, but if you use it- rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse.

Also with brass instruments please watch your spit valves. If you have spit corks, keep in check of those. I know I need to change mind. People with those little key hole spit valves and they're stuck- use valve oil to get it unstuck. Also you're valves are VERY SENSITIVE! Do you know how much room is between your valve and the cilendar it's in? Just enough room for a small coat of oil. If you can't unscrew your valve please put a rag over it and then GENTLY apply pliers. Ask your director to do this if he knows how. Same thing with mouthpieces. Also if your mouth piece is stuck try hitting the side of hand along the mouth piece to get it loose- sometimes that works. I can't think of anything else right now. xp

Also woodwinds- do not put your instrument in the bathtub. The only thign I know to keep those clean is make sure the springs are working and clean it out every time after use and to keep the pads in good working order. Also a friend flute player of mine used to have tiny cobwebs in her flute and would steal my mouthpiece brush to clean out the cobwebs . . . eek I do know for clarinets and saxes when you get that white stuff on your mouthpiece (and supposivly you sit there and scratch it off with your finger) that's actually plaque . . .you know like from your teeth . . . so yeah . . . I also heard about reeds getting stuck to the mouthpiece and when you finally pry it apart it's green underneath . . . now that's a little nasty and woodwinds . . . no . . . that shouldn't happen.

Also some other things to note

--Those moveable shower heads with the hose things are your friends specially for the larger brass instruments

--Yes Tubas you can clean your instrument via bathtub too or go outside and use a hose or a large bucket.

--Do not clean your horn anytime right before a major performance mostly because you've grown so use to playing your horn dirty that cleaning it will mess up your intonation and tone. So don't think "Oh I want my instrument to look pretty for state competition" That is a major NO! I would clean after competitions/contests.

Oh wise one...thank you for enlightening us...or..er...me... 3nodding ...

Lol...I was going to ask about the tuba thing...I've been told by one of the trombones that the old sousa player (he graduated last year) always washed our school's sousa in a kiddie pool..hehe....I do believe I'm still going to wait a bit on that one. Especially since it technically got a bath the other night at our football game...lol...rain completely filled the tubing eek ....it was great...

And to further comment on cleaning woodwinds....If you have an actual wood clarinet (not a resonite one) make sure you oil both the clarinet and the keys occasionally...I've never found that either one of those ever hurt the instrument....(But you've got to admit reed players..there's nothing that tastes better than a nice and--I shan't use the "m" word here--used reed...hehe.....Call me crazy, but hey.... whee )

For my flute I have this long, metal rod with a large, needle-like eye on the end where I put a peice of felt of fabric though and slide it through the flute. Gets all the spit out of the inside. For the outside I rub the smudges with another peice of felt.

Wow, amazing. My oboe needs cleaning. *dies*

Ol' Rusty, the oh so darling school t-bone, needs a good soak. Aah! Maybe I shouldn't even bother... heck, it is a school instrument. But maybe out of courtesy to the next user... Then there's Kylebert (my fantastic new trombone), which I've had for less than a month, or maybe two, who is still very clean.

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge, everyone. mrgreen

-A note to woodwind players: If your key pads get sticky, I've found that a good way to get them unstickied is to take a new dollar bill (you know, when it's all crisp and new and stuff and you can feel the grain of the paper still) and carefully slide it underneath the key that's sticky. Press the key down for a few seconds, and, leaving the key pressed down, slide the dollar bill out. Sometimes this has to be done to one key a few times. whee But it works well. They also have special paper you can buy for it, but a dollar bill is easier to use. Hope that was somewhat useful.

Saxophonists SHOULD oil the screws and such of the keys every month. But...er.. >>; Yeah. Anyway. whee A good way to keep plaque off your mouthpiece is to rinse it once a week or so and scrub with a clean dish cloth or something. And clean out the neck after every time you play. I was playing on the school's bari for a while, and the previous users hadn't cleaned out the neck at all, and when I went to do that, a whole bunch of black gunk came out. @_@ The poor thing needed a good cleaning. Yes. Well, I think I'm done.