TF Whitely

I brought my newly aquired older Besson trumpet in to the shop for a small repair and they told me it needed a major cleaning. They want $50 Canadian. It's been laid up for a while...what do you think?

rowuk

$50 does not sound like too much for a chem clean and a bit of tweaking afterwards. If you can trust them for a repair, the rest should be OK too. There is a lot that can get gunked up on an old horn!

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

Tootsall

Ask them what's included: a total chem bath? or just some elbow grease by an accolyte in the repair shop?

FWIW, I've always cleaned my own... taken it apart and given it a bath myself. I'll polish up the slides, using Silvo, to remove any gunge. There are several websites that offer complete instructions.

If you aren't particularly handy or have never done it yourself you might want to see what the shop can do but $50 will buy you about an hour's worth of someone else's time.

Is the shop one of the major instrument chain stores "up here"? or a local "mom and pop" type operation?

TF Whitely

more like a mom and pop...but deigo is a registered? technician so i'm told.

mlynch

That's about $43 US....not too bad. Manny, in previous posts, talked about cleaning his horns in a mix of 20:1 (water to CLR). I've tried this on my horns with good results. A bottle of CLR costs only a few bucks. It's a cheap way to get stuff very clean. You may wish to find some of those previous posts.

I've heard of folks being extremely happy with ultrasonic cleaning as well. Although I haven't tried it myself, I've heard others rave of the outcomes. If the horn is pretty gunky, ultrasonic might be a good a good consideration as well, especially for a major cleaning that you could subsequently maintain with at-home cleaning. I would, however, like to hear what folks think about ultrasonic cleaning on older horns....I would think that making such a decision would depend highly upon the integrity of horn's solderings, etc. Don't know if those ultrasonic cleanings have been knows to shake apart vintage horns (or cheap asian-built horns for that matter)??

Anyhow, best of luck with your Besson. I recently bought an older Besson MEHA for my daughter and had them refurbish it at Kanstul. It plays like a gem, she loves it, and it's nice to see the difference that the horn has made on her playing.

Regards,
Mike

someguy6

Be careful about ultrasonic cleaning of old horns. I have read that sometimes, if a horn is corroded with red rot, etc, that the ultrasonic cleaning process can dislodge the corrosion and cause holes to appear in the horn. Do a search for red rot on this (and the other forum) and I'm sure you will find horror stories about this.

Even though an ultrasonic bath doesn't look like it is putting much energy into the item it is cleaning, it really is. This is why ultrasonic cleaning is so effective. In my real job, we purchase these kind of things for cleaning pharmaceutical production equipment. If you google "ultrasonic baths", you can read sales literature about how much energy is put in. It doesn't look like much from outside because all of the energy is concentrated to a very very small area. However, it is enough to dislodge corrosion. If red rot has corroded all the way through a tube, then remove the corrosion then what is left? A hole.

-rob

rowuk

Leave the corrosion and play on it and it will most likely "break through" at some gig where you have NO plan B. I think it's best to find out now and get the problem solved - if there is one.

I have been in Germany since 1974. What is CLR?

I will not let any of my horns be cleaned with ultrasound. Chem cleaning works just fine and that takes no chance of something changing for the worse. Pharmaceutical equipment, jewelry and automotive parts do not have defined resonant behaviour. You can ultrasound the he!! out of them without hearing the difference. Solder joints are not my concern. The resonant behaviour of the horn is. The difference between 2 like horns is microscopic, yet there is a hearable difference! I believe resonant behaviour is the major difference.

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

Gary Schutza

I just had one of my horns cleaned ultrasonically and it made a world of difference. I always clean my own horns with snakes and brushes, etc. This was way better than anything I could do on my own. I can scrub out the straighter passages, but this ultrasonic cleaning really worked inside the tighter bends (ends of the slides). Here the shop down the street charges $30 (US). Quite worth it, I think.

Tootsall

Rowuk... CLR is a liquid cleaner that removes "Calcium, Lime & Rust" from places like around toilets, drains, chrome, tile, etc. Some guys like to use it to remove the various oxides and buildups inside horns.

Sold at most department stores near you IF you are in N.A.

My point in asking if the service shop was part of a major chain or not is because MOST "Mom and Pop" music shops in Canada will NOT have an ultrasonic cleaner.

TF Whitely

Thanks...I think I'll spend the money.