Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post Reply
tailgate
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:35 am

Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by tailgate »

Any safe and simple tips for cleaning up where the corks or felts fit. I think there is an accumulation of crud there which is catching the slide. Don't think there is a ding.
The crud is red and oily, so maybe combination of red rubber corks and slide cream. It isn't rust!
Will head to a tech soon (if they are open in iso??) for a clean and new felts, but want to free things up and learn some new cleaning techniques.

Thanks
User avatar
BGuttman
Posts: 5892
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:19 am
Location: Cow Hampshire

Re: Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by BGuttman »

You can get in there with a cotton swab. I've also used cotton pads (the 2 inch square ones) wrapped around the inner tube.

Note that a slide sticking close to 1st is often the result of a small ding near the crook which catches on the stocking.
Bruce Guttman
Merrimack Valley Philharmonic Orchestra
"Almost Professional"
User avatar
elmsandr
Posts: 957
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:43 pm
Location: S.E. Michigan
Contact:

Re: Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by elmsandr »

tailgate wrote: Sat May 30, 2020 4:24 am Any safe and simple tips for cleaning up where the corks or felts fit. I think there is an accumulation of crud there which is catching the slide. Don't think there is a ding.
The crud is red and oily, so maybe combination of red rubber corks and slide cream. It isn't rust!
Will head to a tech soon (if they are open in iso??) for a clean and new felts, but want to free things up and learn some new cleaning techniques.

Thanks
I have, uh, never had to specifically clean that area on any horn I have ever had. My guess, you bent the slide lock or dinged the slide down near the crook.

Cheers,
Andy
afugate
Posts: 644
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:47 am
Location: Oklahoma City

Re: Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by afugate »

BGuttman wrote: Sat May 30, 2020 7:12 am You can get in there with a cotton swab. I've also used cotton pads (the 2 inch square ones) wrapped around the inner tube.

Note that a slide sticking close to 1st is often the result of a small ding near the crook which catches on the stocking.
Or a warpage/alignment issue.

--Andy in OKC
timothy42b
Posts: 1467
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2018 5:51 am
Location: central Virginia

Re: Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by timothy42b »

Not to derail this, but...............since you're all awake and online................

I'm using an alto pBone for most of my practice. If I put the outer slide on correctly, it is sticky. There is a drag that feels like suction or too much cold cream, that gets worse very quickly as I play. If I put the slide on upside down, spit valve the wrong way, the action is decent until it gets very wet. I had about given up on playing this beast until I discovered this.

Why would reversing the slide make such a difference?

(I had previously thought the slide was just unworkable, but suggestions from a couple of forum members worked, and it's now not bad as long as I keep it dry enough).
timothy42b
Posts: 1467
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2018 5:51 am
Location: central Virginia

Re: Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by timothy42b »

Oh. and the relevance of the cork barrel. The slide lock prevents the slide from going all the way in when reversed, it hits the end of the cork barrel. It's not a huge amount but a quarter inch can matter.
Bonearzt
Posts: 715
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:40 am
Location: My Dungeon of Hell....Actually Texas
Contact:

Re: Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by Bonearzt »

timothy42b wrote: Sat May 30, 2020 8:08 am Not to derail this, but...............since you're all awake and online................
I'm using an alto pBone for most of my practice. If I put the outer slide on correctly, it is sticky. There is a drag that feels like suction or too much cold cream, that gets worse very quickly as I play. If I put the slide on upside down, spit valve the wrong way, the action is decent until it gets very wet. I had about given up on playing this beast until I discovered this.
Why would reversing the slide make such a difference?
(I had previously thought the slide was just unworkable, but suggestions from a couple of forum members worked, and it's now not bad as long as I keep it dry enough).
For the slide to work better flipped tells me the tubes are warped somehow or otherwise misaligned.

But being A Pbone, no telling and probably not an easy repair.

Also for the cork barrels, I use the cork removal tool and press some cheesecloth up into the space and twist to try to get the majority of the crud out.
If it catches in 1st, it COULD be the bumper material being worn, or as mentioned, a dent or misalignment of the tubing near the crook.


Eric
Eric Edwards
Professional Instrument Repair
972.795.5784

"If you must choose between two evils, choose the one you haven't tried yet."
"Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud." -Sophocles
brassmedic
Posts: 965
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2018 12:07 pm
Contact:

Re: Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by brassmedic »

The repair tool suppliers sell pipe cleaners for that purpose (which I'm sure you could purchase from lots of places). In my experience, QTips are too thick to fit in there. But I will agree with the others who said the problem is most likely at the end of the slide, not in the cork barrel.
Brad Close Brass Instruments - brassmedic.com
mbtrombone
Posts: 122
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2019 6:14 pm

Re: Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by mbtrombone »

tailgate wrote: Sat May 30, 2020 4:24 am Any safe and simple tips for cleaning up where the corks or felts fit. I think there is an accumulation of crud there which is catching the slide. Don't think there is a ding.
The crud is red and oily, so maybe combination of red rubber corks and slide cream. It isn't rust!
Will head to a tech soon (if they are open in iso??) for a clean and new felts, but want to free things up and learn some new cleaning techniques.

Thanks
I think there might be something to the idea that the "corks" are falling apart. I went a few years of playing and noticed that I had a catch near the first position sometimes. I took it to a very competent repair tech and he cleaned and aligned and polished the inner and outers and it seemed great except he noticed the "catch" also. He ripped out the old cork/felt and just shoved some new felt up there. Problem solved. You can always take it to a tech and they should be able to do this and clean and align for a few hundred bucks and it should be like a brand new slide. Trick is finding a good tech in your area.
Driswood
Posts: 228
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2018 4:59 am
Location: Palm Harbor, FL

Re: Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by Driswood »

I've used pipe cleaners since my freshman year in college - 1969. They can be had at any Walgreen's or CVS.
Jerry Walker

Happily Retired :good:

1957 Conn 6H
Schilke 47B
1989 Yamaha YSL-684G
Bach 6 3/4C
bigbandbone
Posts: 583
Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2019 7:45 am

Re: Cleaning under cork Barrels

Post by bigbandbone »

Is the original poster talking about a brass instrument or a P-bone?
Here's my 2 cents after 40+ years in the repair trade.
Never let a repairman put felts in the CORK BARRELS! If your new horn comes with felts in the cork barrels have them removed and changed to properly fitted corks!
99.8% of all the sticky and stuck 1st position problems I've dealt with are felt related!
A lot of manufacturers and repair shops use felt rings because it's cheaper and easier! But they cause the problem you describe.
Forget felt and demand cork!
Post Reply

Return to “Maintenance”