Trumpet tuning slide question for a tech

[Kingfan]

OK, it isn't a trombone, but it has four slides so... I picked up a used King Tempo II trumpet. The main tuning slide and valve slides are very stiff. The inner parts of the tubes don't look like brass, they have a silvery look to them. What material is it, and what is the best way to get the slides moving with ease?

[FullPedalTrombonist]

I’m not a tech, but a friend of mine is and he just fixed one of these up for a school. I think they’re nickel tubes, but it doesn’t matter so much. Chances are the tubes aren’t perfectly round or the slide isn’t perfectly parallel. That’s a tech thing to check and to fix. Otherwise gently polish with a rag and metal polish, throughly wash/dry, and lube with slide grease.

[braymond21]

I'm not sure exactly what kind of metal it is, but it's fairly common on trumpet slides. To get it out, use a penetrating oil or corrosion cracker along with some heat and lots of patience. Getting some WD40 in there should help and if you use heat, be careful to not hurt the lacquer or unsolder any braces or the slide crooks. If you're unsure about doing any of it, it's probably best to take it to a tech as it should be a pretty inexpensive fix

[brassmedic]

It probably needs a chem clean. The silver colored metal is nickel silver (which actually contains no silver).

[Kingfan]

Thanks, everybody! I used penetrating oil on the main tuning slide which was totally stuck and with patience got it moving. I cleaned the insides of the brass tubes and outsides of the nickel silver tubes; they all move better but not as good as they should. I'll try a little polish today. Paid only $60 for it, so I didn't do badly. Will probably sell it to one of my trumpet buddies for a beginner on a budget or a kid looking for a sturdy backup horn for marching.

[Matt K]

I just had a trumpet 1 and 3 tuning slide cleaned, aligned, and switched into that configuration (reverse tuning slide + thumb "U") and I paid less than $70 for it. You'll probably get more out of it if you have a tech take a look at those two slides and possibly the main one or if you sell it to someone maybe indicate that it shouldn't be very much to get those slides in at least nearly perfect shape. Those slides are a little easier to get into good condition than trombone slides!

[Gary]

Take it to a tech, lean back and have a Padron and a Courvoisier.

[Kingfan]

Take it to a tech, lean back and have a Padron and a Courvoisier.

Nah, a good Porter will do!

[Kingfan]

I just had a trumpet 1 and 3 tuning slide cleaned, aligned, and switched into that configuration (reverse tuning slide + thumb "U") and I paid less than $70 for it. You'll probably get more out of it if you have a tech take a look at those two slides and possibly the main one or if you sell it to someone maybe indicate that it shouldn't be very much to get those slides in at least nearly perfect shape. Those slides are a little easier to get into good condition than trombone slides!

Yeah, I would rather sell a nicely working horn than something that needs an unknown amount of $$$ to make it nice, as long as I'm not losing money.

[Kingfan]

Local repair tech I use quoted $75 clean, polish tuning slides, fix minor dents. Local large music store quoted me $65 for a good cleaning plus whatever extra work needs to be done. Yikes! I went in the workshop and gave the tuning slides all a good cleaning. They were rough when lubed with valve oil, but when I put thicker tuning slide lube on them, bingo! Slick as baby snot. I'll give it a good bath and as soon as I get the third valve ring from Coronavirusland I'll get one my trumpet playing buddies to check it out for me. Then I can sell with confidence. Us semi-retired guys like our project. Yes we do!