TromboneChat

An interesting recent development with my slide:
Initially, when I start the practice or warm up time for playing, I find my slide is very slow around 4th-5th position to the point of stopping. However, after just a few minutes of playing, the slide is as good as it was on the first day I got it (10/10). I keep my slide clean and use Yamasnot on it (sparingly). There are no visible dings anywhere on the slide and the alignment has been checked. I never experienced this with any other horn I have owned. This horn is a Yamaha 697Z that I have owned and loved since 2007. Anybody had a similar experience?

Yes. I don't use Yamaha goop, but sometimes it seems that there is a little hangup when I start playing. A quick spritz of water often makes the slide great. I suspect it's a maldistribution of the water film that evens out as you are playing.

I've had that happen with Yamaha 354's but only when they were new. Works fine, then suddenly just stops for no apparent reason. It seemed to be a break-in issue but I don't know why or what to do other than just clean it and start over.

Hi

It has happened to me on occasions with horns but not a particular horn. My theory is a fragment of crap has become loose in the slide and has moved up to the inside of the outer slide and got caught there. It does not help to clean the inner slide because the problem is the outer slide. It can help with water or Yamaha slide oil but best is to clean the whole slide, also the inside of the outer slide. What ever causes the problem this helps.

/Tom

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your input. I do clean my outer slide with the Slide'O Mix cleaning rod towel on a regular basis, but it doesn't prevent the issue. However, like I said in my original post, it is temporary and goes away within a minute or two as I warm up.

One suggestion is to use a bit MORE Yamasnot than you think, and also don't swab your outer slide as much.

Sometimes the lube needs to build up slightly to work well, AND you need to use enough lube to coat the ENTIRE insides of the outer tubes.


Eric

Also, to make things more fun, EVERY SLIDE IS DIFFERENT. My Bach 42 slide? Use two part slide-o-mix exactly as it says on the bottle and it's good for almost TWO WEEKS. It's a magical slide.

I'm lucky if I get two days on most my slides before performance starts to degrade. And yes they are regularly serviced, cleaned, etc.

My Rath R2F (nickel silver slide) and my Bach 36BO (yellow brass slide) can go for weeks at a time in between swabbings, only requiring a spray of water or a drop of YamaSnot to keep them going. After swabbing, it takes a few days of regular playing to build up that perfect coating of goo between inner and outer slide but when it does, they're like glass.

Tarkus697 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 07, 2020 11:41 am My Rath R2F (nickel silver slide) and my Bach 36BO (yellow brass slide) can go for weeks at a time in between swabbings, only requiring a spray of water or a drop of YamaSnot to keep them going. After swabbing, it takes a few days of regular playing to build up that perfect coating of goo between inner and outer slide but when it does, they're like glass.

Right? For some slides there's a sweet spot for taking care of them and not taking care of them.

I do have one slide which I have to swab after nearly every use or it gets funky.

I had this several years ago. Play loud and get the horn warm and it bound up.
My tech found if he flashed the length of the MP side of the slide it did the same.
He realigned the hand slide handle and it was fine.