Yamaha slide cream

[bubba7753]

What is the difference between the Yamaha Slide Cream and the Yamaha Slide Lubricant. I've used pretty much everything on the planet. all help would be appreciated.

[brtnats]

The “snot” stuff in the white bottle with the purple label is excellent and significantly better than the cream in the tube.

[BGuttman]

The cream in the tube is like a lot of "generic" slide creams around. OK, but not great. The Slide Lubricant is the stuff to buy.

[Baker]

What is the difference between the Yamaha Slide Cream and the Yamaha Slide Lubricant. I've used pretty much everything on the planet. all help would be appreciated.

https://yamahaeducatorsuite.com/how-to- ... one-slides

[PaulT]

The tip from the Yamaha guy on applying their slide lubricant was interesting.

I have always separated the inner and outer slides. Then I run a thin line along the top inner slide, paying particular attention to the stocking, then I fit top inner and outer slides back together and work them back and forth while rotating them to spread the stuff all around. Then I repeat the same process for the bottom inner and outer.

Yamaha guy's method is a lot simpler and reduces the handling (and vulnerability) of separate slide sections.

Anyone else do it like the link suggests? I am going to give it a try. (already have, actually).

[Crazy4Tbone86]

Lubricating a trombone slide for an experienced player is a very personal thing. One player prefers this lubricant, another player swears by a different lubricant. Preferences are determined by many factors....

1. How good the slide action is without a lubricant.
2. How clean the slide is before applying lubricant.
3. How the player applies their preferred lubricant.

As a technician, I am going to rock the boat and say that the lubricant is one of the least important factors in slide performance. With the exception of slide oils (oils are awful on slides), I find that all of the lubricants work well if used in small portions. How small? I teach my young students to use slide cream. I instruct them to clean and re-lubricate their slides once as week. I also teach them that a small .5 to .7 ounce canister of slide cream should last 4 or 5 years.

In my brass repair training, I was taught that the trombones that I was preparing were likely to sit on a shelf for as long as a year or two before they would be rented or bought. Thus, the trombones left my bench completely dry (actually vacuumed to the point of zero moisture) and the slides had to move perfectly with no lubrication. When a trombone slide is dent-free, perfectly aligned and completely clean of dirt, grease, grit, etc..., it can work perfectly with zero lubrication. In theory, the lubricant should only serve the purpose of eliminating any metal-to-metal sound.

When I learned how a trombone slide should feel when it is properly prepared, I realized that any lubricant (as long as it was used in minimal doses) really only served the purpose of noise reduction. I also realized that, up to that point in time, I was using trombone lubricants to cover up bad slide alignment/preparation. It was kind of like putting more butter on the toast so you couldn't taste the poor quality of the toast.

If you want great slide action, stop looking for the "nirvana" slide lubricant! Get your trombone slide repaired and aligned to the point where it works perfectly without any lubrication. When you slide works really well, any lubricant will do the job as long as you use VERY LITTLE of it.

That being said....I actually like the Yamaha Slide Cream better than the Yamaha bottled Trombone Slide Lubricant. The Yamaha Slide Cream is actually different than the standard slide creams (Trombotine, Conn SuperSlick, etc..) because it has silicone infused into the cream. I tested the Yamaha bottled Trombone Slide Lubricant several years back and it started to get crusty at about 7 or 8 days, which is a life span that is 2 or 3 days shorter than most slide creams for me.

However, my preference for the slide cream is a moot point. Why? I rarely go longer than 4 days between swabbing my slide and applying a new lubricant (gotta keep that slide clean, you know). I use an assortment of slide lubricant and my slide always feels the same.

[torobone]

I tend to buy Yamaha horns. They come with the cream, and I buy the lubricant. I use both as follows.

1. I use a cleaning rod and cloth to clean both inner and outer slides.
2. I put a very small amount of the cream on the inner stockings. This is about 1/2 the amount to cover my smallest fingernail.
3. I use a very small amount of the lubricant afterwards.
4. There is a small water bottle provided. I rarely if ever use water.

This will work for about 10 hours of playing. When the slide action slows even slightly, I clean my slide again. I bought my 891Z in 2009, and I still have a small bit of the cream left. In 12 years, I have bought 4 bottles of slide lubricant (one for each horn), and I might need to buy another this year.

[Crazy4Tbone86]

I like the way Martin describes the amount of slide cream that he uses. He said "1/2 the amount to cover my smallest fingernail," which is exactly how I describe the process to my students. One of the biggest problems with any brand of slide cream is that many people use far too much of it. My motto is....you should never see the slide cream on your inner slide. If you see it, you have used too much!