Gummy Valve

[Neo Bri]

I have a newer Conn with a rotor valve on it. It's always been a slow, gummy valve. What's the deal? Is it a too tight-fitting valve? Is it crappy manufacturing? Or is it just dirty? What would you recommend? I have never had this problem on Bach and Yamaha valves.

[tbonesullivan]

How long have you had it? What type of valve oil do you use with it? Have you tried detaching the linkage to see which part is sticking?

[Neo Bri]

I've had the horn for maybe 6 months and bought used. I've been flooding the valve with Blue Juice and using Hetmanns for the linkages and bearings. When I oil the valve, it gets better for a day or two, and then it's gummy again. I haven't detached the linkage, but that's a good idea. However, I'm sure it's the rotor in the casing because oiling the valve helps.

In fact, I have a few horns with slides kind of like that.

[Burgerbob]

Take it apart, clean it out.

[tbonesullivan]

Take it apart, clean it out.

seconded. If there is "crud" in there, no amount of oiling is gonna get it out.

[sacfxdx]

I had a similar issue and it was a mis-adjusted linkage. disassembly and cleaning would be a good idea too. Then you do not have to guess what the valve looks like (crud-wise).

[FullPedalTrombonist]

I pulled my 42 out of storage after years and I had to wet sand the valve core. The oil just got nasty in there and hasn’t been bad at all before even with how seldom I need to play it. Maybe it got too hot.

Much less extreme measures had to be taken after switching valve oil. Sometimes they don’t play well together I guess. A good cleaning and reapplication of oil always does the trick.