I'll agree with Ken. I am willing and able to remove the valves from my Finke,
and I have. However, when I saw bad things in my horn, I took it to Ken to be
cleaned properly. He has equipment and knowledge I don't. With proper oiling my
horn won't need professional cleaning for a long time.
Herb Foster
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> So....you want to keep your horns clean and do it on the cheap, and safely
> too?
> First of all, I agree with Dave Weiner- if you do your own cleanings with
> those kits which are available - you must be very careful to be certain to
> remove ALL traces of the cleaning fluids AND you must neutralize the
> surfaces afterwards OR you will be leaving your instruments in a non-neutral
> state. In otherwords, by trying to save money - you could be ending up with
> a horn which is 'Red Rot Ready'.
> There are even top name repair shops who use over the counter toilet bowl
> cleaners to clean horns at conventions WITHOUT neutralizing the horn,
> WITHOUT degreasing the instrument by fully immersing it, WITHOUT fully
> immersing the body of the horn in said cleaning fluids - AND they charge
> high prices too - in my mind they are doing more harm, than good to a horn.
>
> So... my suggestions:
> 1. Get the horn cleaned professionally - IN a well respected shop,
> preferably ultrasonically! THEN keep it well oiled, and keep the mouthpipe
> clean. That way you'll only have to have it cleaned every 3 or 4 years!
> That works out to about $30/year (less than you pay for a single oil change
> with your car).
>
> 2. DO NOT have your horn cleaned at any 'off site' place (ie. A workshop, or
> concert). These shops will not have their full facilities available to do a
> proper job.
>
> I understand your desire to save money (I have 4 kids!!), but you should
> keep things in a proper perspective. Also, please do not think even for a
> moment that I am advocating this because I am a technician who benefits from
> doing this procedure, I am advocating this from the standpoint of seeing
> hundreds of horns a year that have been home 'cleaned', or poorly cleaned by
> other shops and spend much of my time re-repairing said instruments.
>
> Sincerely,
> Ken
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more.
http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250
_______________________________________________
post: horn@music.memphis.edu
unsubscribe or set options at
http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
