Mark,
Quote:
Originally Posted by teacherchops  I originally posted this over at trumpetherald........
1) the valves stick quite a bit, especially the 1st valve. I'm using Al Kass oil, and I've cleaned the valves repeatedly. |
Oil floats on water. You MUST ALWAYS run a rag, chamois, etc. through the valve casing and COMEPLETELY dry the valve before oiling. Oiling the water will not prevent the valve from sticking. Petroleum based oils have a lubrication life of less than 24 hours. After that, the paraffin and other additives from the oils as well as your and aerosols from your breath are left, but the useful petroleum part has evaporated.
That means oil fresh EVERY day, or get some synthetic valve oil like UltraPure.
I have never had a piston spring "fail" in less than 15 years, so I don't think that is the problem
Quote:
Originally Posted by teacherchops 2) I can't seem to get all the water out of the horn. It seems to gurgle on notes on the 2nd valve. |
I have never had a flugel that didn't gurgle at some point. You have to put on the detective hat to find it. I suspect that you hold the flugel angled up or down and that the main spit key is not at the lowest point to let the spit out. Just because it gurgles when pressing the second valve does not mean that the water is there. The gurgle comes when a pressure node in the horn finds water. Each note sets up different nodes in the horn