RGood

Mercedes -

I've used Al Cass since the '60s.....but if your valves are hanging up - worth trying another oil - but first really clean off your valves and the casings - minimum wipe them down really well - better - wash the horn and let them air dry. That way won't be judging a mix of oils. Berp Oil just got a good review from Flugelgirl, Ultrapure gets good reviews on TM. I've had good success with Hetman synthetic on a finicky horn - and use Roche-Thomas on my Kanstul flugel.

Here's to no hangups (well at least on the horn!)

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It's a new year - let's have at it!!!

Kanstul 1525 Flugel
Yamaha Bobby Shew 6310Z Flugel
1967 Getzen Eterna (my 2nd - still going strong after all these years)
1961 Olds Special (my 1st...battered, bruised, & passed around but back home)

lovevixen555

Take a hand towel for most or a bath towel if you have big hands. Fold in in half and bunch the side towards the center. Grip that towel with all your might for 7-12 seconds once per hand every day. IN twenty weeks time you can have doubled your hand strength with just this little exercise in all of your fingers not just one. The trick to squeeze hard and rember to breath out dureing the exerction. THen stretch your fingers and do any agility drill you do. I used to do a lot of finger exercise's that I learned from learning the guitar and piano and then latter from my friends that played clarinet. I do not do them now very often but they did work great for limbering up my hands. In addition to some sever joint injures sustain in a nasty accident I also suffered from a conective tissue disease that was systemic throught my entire body. So I always had to read and learn a lot of new ways to skin the cat so to speak.In a lot of ways my connective tissue disease which has since been close to erradicated from my body mimicked a lot of the symptoms of artritis especialy in my hands. I was takeing narcotic pain killers and anti-inflamatory drugs by middle school if that tells you anything.

Throu a combination of nutritional supplements and some radical training programs I was able to over come allt his and my body was able to heal itself eventualy but not completly.

I used this same technique for my father inlaw who is paralyzed from the chest down but has use of his arms and hands. He still hunts includeing a return trip to Africa for a second Safri. I was able to drasticly increase his hand strength even more then the months of rehab he had done. This allowed him to use a standard triger instead of a modified trigger mechanism that wasa series of levers that amplified his strength. So it is well proven. Their are many more hand exercise that I can share but this is the most useful one for most people.

mellowmood_in_ventura

Me thinks that I've got a useful idea ferya, which is one that I devised(and use from time-to-time. My 3rd Valve Phobia began with my previous trumpet (a Kris Kratt) that I purchased from an in-law for about 80 bucks, and the prob stemmed from the fact that the Kratt's former owner gave up on studying trumpet. He put it in it's case without washing it out, and because of that, the residue from oil was just awful...it took me some time to clear it out, but for whatever reason, the 3rd valve continued to stick...all-too-frequently, that is. When my dental complications set in, I just sold the trumpet, and assumed that I'd never again be able to play.
Well, when I got my new trumpet, and back into the swing of things wearing 'storeboughts', I also came up with this nifty was to get more comfortable with that dreaded 3rd valve, and my practice sequence goes like this: F#, F, F# Ab, F#, Ab A natural Ab A natural to B natural,or 2,1,2 2&3, 2, 2&2 1&2, 2&3, 1&2 and then 2. That can enable you to feel more comfy with the very daunting 3rd valve. Also, try playing the Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends", as played by Herb Alpert. It's got LOTS of neat chromatic shifts such as that which use the A-Ab exchange; it's one of the funnest things that I know of to play, AND increase one's dexterity in the process.