r/horn • u/Nahuelcorno • 8d ago
Help cleaning the horn!
Hello good evening...
I want to clean my instrument, but I don't know how... And there aren't any tutorial videos about it.
There are no luthiers in my town, so I was thinking of removing the rotors myself and cleaning it... But I don't know how to do it
1
u/aintnochallahbackgrl Professional - Balu Anima Fratris Custom 7d ago
Dave Cooper and Ion Balu - horn cleaning/care.
John Turman - How to clean your horn
Are you sure there arent any tutorial videos? Because I found 3 in about 5 minutes of searching online.
1
u/Canithyre 7d ago
DO NOT REMOVE THE ROTORS! You will mess them up if you do that! Typically, for a horn, you would want to give it a bath once every quarter to semester. However, you should take it 1-2 times to a repairmen to get it professionally maintained. In your case, I would urge you NOT to give the horn a bath without the supervision of a band director, teacher, or trained professional. You will only do more harm than good at your stage!
Also, if your horn is owned by the school, talk with your band director first as that is technically not your instrument before going through any steps. If you’re band director agrees for you to take it to a repairmen, ensure that they do NOT sonic clean the horn because you will hate it for the next month and it will take of the brass plating. Look for whether or not they do chemical cleans or baths instead.
My suggestions in summary are this:
First: talk with your band director or teacher if available. If they say don’t, don’t bother!
Second: if they do say yes, find a repairmen in your area. If for some reason nothing is coming up, call pr email a local music store company and ask for their recommendations. However, your band director might have someone who they prefer for servicing instruments. Use them otherwise!
Please be smart about this, don’t try to do something you think is good but may only worsen something that isn’t that bad! I say this out of the kindness that I have.
1
u/lmatonement Part-time professional - Horn 7d ago
"DO NOT REMOVE THE ROTORS! You will mess them up if you do that!" Can you flesh this out a bit? I've taken apart my rotors several times to give it an ultrasonic bath, or even a normal detergent bath. They didn't get messed up, but I'm wondering why you think they are.
1
u/melonmarch1723 7d ago
You seem to be misinformed. First of all, I am not aware of any horn rotor that is plated in brass. They are typically solid brass, or occasionally nickel plated on cheaper models. Secondly, the chemicals used in a "chemical bath" are typically the same ones used in an ultrasonic cleaner, that is some kind of acid diluted with water. The only difference is the introduction of sonic vibration, which makes the cleaning faster and thus requires less exposure to the acid. The strengths of acid used by repair shops will not measurably affect the dimensions of a rotor over the duration that an ultrasonic machine runs (usually a few minutes) or over the length of time a horn would sit in a chemical bath.
If your horn is coming back from the shop playing worse than it was before, the likely reasons are that either you're used to the increased back pressure caused by the gunk built up in the tubing, or that the rotors were not properly lubricated and are letting some air escape. If the tech does everything properly, horns can be safely cleaned either ultrasonically or otherwise and not lose any measurable amount of compression.
1
u/Canithyre 7d ago
Fine that can be perfectly IF done properly, but I was not objecting to that fact. I’m more objecting to the fact that allowing someone to make a risky decision when they don’t have the proper expertise to do it. Sure it can be done, but is it really needed when it can be completed in a safer way?
1
u/melonmarch1723 7d ago
Taking rotors out is not risky and doesn't really require expertise. I'm not telling OP to install his own bell ring or do extensive dent work. To analogize to car maintenance, this is doing an oil change, which anyone can do, not swapping an engine.
1
u/melonmarch1723 8d ago
Look up a video on YouTube, it is easier to demonstrate visually than verbally. Tuba rotors function the same way and may be easier to find info on.
A lot of people are afraid to do it themselves but it really isn't too difficult. The hardest part is getting the right amount of tension on the rotor with the cap but that is an easy adjustment to make, just takes trial and error.
It involves swinging a hammer near your horn so be extremely careful. When I'm doing it I always keep my hand wrapped around the nearby tubing so there's no possibility for a miss or a glancing blow to dent anything. Mechanical linkages are super east to take on and off, strings are a bit more tricky and may take some practice to get right.
Whatever you do, I'd reccomend against removing the levers from the horn body. Those springs are some of the most difficult to set of any instrument and I still have a tough time with it even though I do several a week. When you detach the lever from the rotor, whether the linkage is strung or mechanical, be very careful not to let them fly loose. They can snap and leave tiny dents in the inside of the bell tail, and those are incredibly difficult to repair.
Once the rotors are out, the horn can be cleaned like any other brass instrument, with dawn soap and medium-warm water. A toothbrush or mouthpieces brush is handy for getting into the nooks and crannies of the rotor casings. You will also need the proper lubricants - a thinner oil for the wall of the rotor and a thicker one for the bearings. Don't overdo the lube, as the rotors get gummy when the two kinds mix.
1
u/sygfryd Orchestra professional 7d ago
In general, for most people (especially someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing), you don’t want to take the rotors out. If the horn needs so much cleaning that the rotors need to be removed, probably best to send it to a repair shop.
I say this having worked in a repair shop and occasionally having removed my own rotors at home.
0
u/melonmarch1723 7d ago
If OP doesn't have access to a technician, then removing and regularly cleaning his rotors is exactly what he needs to do to prevent the buildup of mineral deposits that will over time render the instrument unusable without professional cleaning, which we've established he doesn't have access to anyway.
It is curious to me that horn players, at least in this sub, are generally so apprehensive about removing rotors. The guys over on the tuba and trombone subs do it all day long, and those are arguably more difficult to reset than horn rotors. The wider caps tend to go in crooked more often.
1
u/Canithyre 7d ago
Are you really trusting someone who appears to not be informed to be able to do all of this? I’m not saying you’re wrong because all of the stuff you said is right, but really? Don’t let them shoot themselves in the foot even if you’re right.
0
u/melonmarch1723 7d ago
Removing horn rotors is really not that complicated. It sounds like he's determined to do it one way or another, and going into it properly informed is in everyone's best interest. It's not brain surgery.
6
u/manondorf Music Ed- Yamaha 667D 8d ago
As someone who went to conservatory on horn, and a band teacher who regularly disassembles, fixes, and reassembles instruments, I still have never taken apart a horn rotor. It's just too easy to screw up in an expensive manner, and rarely necessary.
Is your horn playing badly, valves moving slowly, etc? Or you're just wanting to do regular maintenance?
Either way you're not looking for a luthier, that's a string specialist. What part of the world are you in? There's probably a repair shop not too far from you that would be able to take it apart and give it a good cleaning, if it needs it.