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Today we are introducing a new contributing author to Horn Matters, Dave Weiner. Dave is a repair technician in Lutherville, MD, and owns Brass Arts Unlimited, specializing in horn repairs, and sales of instruments and related accessories.
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I had a customer in my shop recently with a Holton double horn. This model has an independent Bb tuning slide, and every time he played a first valve fingering the Bb tuning slide popped out!
The tiny bit of pressure caused by the rotation of the first valve rotor was enough to push the extremely loose slide out. He asked, “Should I do something about this?”
Absolutely!
What you can do in the near term
If you have a loose slide, you should take it to a competent repair tech. Until then, you have a few quick temporary fixes.
Most players use a very heavy grease, far heavier than the normal slide grease. This is a good option, since it secures the slide and seals any potential leaks. Some players secure the slide with rubber bands, tape, string, and even dental floss. This option should only be used for the very short term, because it solves nothing beyond the accidental loss of the slide.
Loose slides can pop out and get damaged and they can even cause leaks. Symptoms of loose slides include slides popping out while playing, slides not staying in place, and the continual need to grease the slides.
I’ve heard some players say, “My horn seems to be eating slide grease these days!” The usual culprit is a loose slide which allows the grease to run down into the valves, obviously risking gummed-up valves. Double trouble!
But what about the long term?
Take your horn to a repair technician. The technician will use one of two methods to expand the slide leg tubes. He or she will either use a leaf expander, which slowly expands six polished, chrome plated steel leaves to push the tube outward, or will use a steel plug inside and burnish the outside of the tubes. Burnishing the metal over a mandrel that fits tightly in the tube will cause the tube to expand.
Either method is acceptable. But be sure to ask the technician how they will do the work.
Why?
Because some techs use the “clever” method of just pushing the slide legs slightly out of alignment. This causes them to bind in the slide leg stockings. That only solves the moving slide problem, and does not solve any potential leakage or “eating” of slide grease.
Can I prevent loose slides?
Probably. Slides legs are either loose from the very beginning due to poor construction (not likely), or they become squeezed by pulling them out off-axis.
If you don’t pull them straight out, the force of pulling out at an angle can, in effect, burnish them down to a smaller diameter. To prevent this, use a sufficiently heavy slide grease to keep them centered in the slide leg stockings, and pull them straight out each time.
