Hello Bob, I did not expect such an advice from a respected teacher as you are. Why do you blow into the same super friendly horn instead telling the young players that THEY must care first that the valves DO NOT accumulate this green stuff ? Simply, they do not care much about their instrument (not only the musical instrument !). Thatīs it !!!! (There are exceptions, who produce extreme aggressive saliva and are not happy with this fact !)
Yes, excessive tensions on the strings slows down the valve action, a problem to be solved very quickly. But chemical use, quite dangerous. I cannot repeat it too often. If this is necessary, it should be done by the expert repairmen only not by those who think they were experts. And, the alloy of the horn rotors & valve cases are more or less the same affected by chemicals or resistant to them. The other theory (brought up here on the list few days ago by another member) of misaligned slides creating different (air) pressure inside affecting the opening of the valves, my goodness, how many times should it increase the pressure to slow down the valve action ? Last comment: is it necessary to play the valve action at maximum speed like a flute or clarinet, or is it better if the valve works exactly in closing & opening ? What is more important in the music: valve speed or tone quality or number of notes played or quality of the notes ? I cannot understand why some people have the Foerster (just an example) as their favourite piece ? Do they have difficulties producing any fine cantilena or any melody containing longer notes than 1/8ths ? ============================================================ =================================================== -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Dickow Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 2:49 AM To: 'The Horn List' Subject: RE: [Hornlist] Valve cleaning One of the most common reasons for sticky valves is excessive tension on the strings used for the linkage. But, if you feel that there are still other causes, such as corrosion, try the product known as CLR, a chemical normally used for de-scaling coffeepots, faucet fixtures, shower heads, etc. I did this myself with success. However, I did test the material on my horn in a location that was non-critical if damaged. It did not corrode the metal of the valve core itself, but did seem to do a nice job taking off all the green crusty stuff. Even so, in case your horn uses a different alloy than mine does, test the CLR solution first, as I did, to be on the safe side. Bob Dickow -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joe Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 9:18 PM To: 'The Horn List' Subject: RE: [Hornlist] Valve cleaning An interesting sidebar to the acid bath valve cleaning discussion is the question of whether corrosion is the actual cause of your horn's sluggish valves. Quite frequently, the cause of hang-ups and sluggishness, particularly in public school instruments, is misaligned slides that are putting some sort of irregular pressure on the ports of the rotor. <snip> _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans%40pizka.d e _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org