How to Take Care of Brass Instruments

Brass instrument care and maintenance tips to keep your horn looking and sounding great on a budget.

To take care of brass instruments like trumpets, trombones and French horns, you only need a few inexpensive items. You'll also need the discipline to keep your horn well-maintained.

Things You'll Need

• Valve oil
• Slide grease
• Cleaning "snake"
• Cloth
• Mild soap
• Brass or silver polish

Instructions

1. Keep your valves and slides oiled. Use a few drops of valve oil for each valve or slide. Oil at least once a week (or more) if you play every day. You may need to oil more in hot weather.

2. Grease the tuning slides and any movable parts at least once every month. Slide grease is made from petroleum of a specific weight that keeps parts from getting stuck. Do not use petroleum jelly; it will break down and gum up your horn.

3. Wipe down your brass instrument's body daily, or after each use. Your hands have oil and dirt that will wear away at the exposed brass, silver plating or other finish. A daily wipe-down will keep your horn shiny. Use soft cloths like chamois.

4. Run a brass-instrument "snake" through all accessible tubing on your instrument. Focus on the lead pipe and areas near the mouthpiece. Little bits of food and matter can become lodged in the horn's tubing and change the instrument's pitch over time. A "snake" is a thick wire with brushes at each end. Instrument shops carry different sizes of snakes for tubas, trumpets, trombones and other brass instruments.

5. Perform a deep cleaning on your brass instrument once every couple of months. Disassemble the instrument and submerge each piece in a warm bath with a little bit of mild soap. Do not use dishwashing detergent. Consider purchasing brass instrument soap from a music store. Car wash soap will also work in a pinch.

6. Polish your horn with brass polish, silver polish or jewelery soap, depending on your instrument's finish. Use jewelery soap if the brass instrument is finished in lacquer or silver polish for silver-plated horns.