How to Clean Brass Musical Instruments

Cleaning brass musical instruments is a routine process that you should do at least once each month. Brass musical instruments are made out of brass, and the sound is produced with a mouth piece. Examples of brass instruments are the trumpet, the trombone, the saxophone, the French horn, and the tuba. You may want to clean your brass musical instruments in order to remove any debris. In order to clean brass musical instruments, remove all of the parts, clean each part separately, and then reassemble the instrument.

Things You'll Need

• Brass instrument
• Bath tub
• Dish soap
• Valve brush
• Slide grease
• Valve oil
• Cloths
• Towel

Instructions

1. Take apart the brass instrument. In order to clean brass musical instruments, you must separate all of the parts. This will enable you to clean the instrument more thoroughly.

2. Place a towel at the bottom of the bath tub in order to protect the instrument from being scratched. You should use a towel that covers the entire length of the bath tub.

3. Fill the bath tub with warm water and some liquid dish soap. Place all of the parts of the brass instrument, excluding the valves, into the tub. Allow these parts of the brass instrument to soak for at least 10 minutes.

4. Rinse the valves under warm water. Then, use the valve brush in order to clean the inside of the valves. Dry the valves off and allow them to dry.

5. Take the parts of the instrument that are soaking out of the bath tub. Drain the water from the tub, and rinse off the instrument with warm water in order to remove any excess dish soap. Then, dry off each part of the instrument.

6. Apply slide grease to all slides, except for the main trombone slide, of the instrument. Do this as you put the slides back on the brass instrument. When you reassemble the main trombone slide, use slide oil or slide cream.

7. Put the valves back on the instrument, and apply valve oil to them. This will help them to remain in good condition.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are an inexperienced player or you are unsure of how to clean the brass instrument properly, then take the instrument to the music store.

References

• Music Centers: Brass Cleaning
• Musichem: Trumpet Care for Musicians