Care And Feeding Of Your Band Instrument
Proper maintenance of any brass instrument is important if you expect it to perform at its best. Drain the water from the tub and brush out all parts of the trumpet. Wipe the mouthpiece with a dry towel after every use. If valves and slides are stuck, then you should not try to get them out. Set your valves aside to air-dry. Put the disassembled instrument, slides and mouthpiece (but not the valves) onto the towel in the bathtub and let the parts soak for about 30 minutes to loosen any debris.
18. Then, use a couple drops of valve oil onto each of your slides, and gently move your trumpet's valves and tuning slides open and closed. Oil valves when needed (consult your teacher for further instruction). Use your snake to gently clean the ports of each piston, and a soft soapy wash cloth to clean the outside of each piston.
Don't take off the spit valves (water keys). Take trumpet apart including all valves, slides and caps. You should oil the valves of your instrument preferably every time before and after playing. Clean the 2nd valve slide in a similar fashion as the tuning slide and the 1st valve slide: Run lukewarm water through the slide, and apply several drops of soap down the slide's bore.
The advice on letting everything completely dry is very good and everyone can use a reminder about protecting the felts in the valves. Simply press the water key to hold it open, and blow air through the instrument so moisture will leave through the valve (it might be handy to keep a paper towel to empty your valve onto so you don't leave a puddle).
Do not use any kind of household cleaning product when washing your trumpet - be sure to use a mild dish soap or else you will risk damaging your trumpet. If there is an accumulation of water in the third slide, we need to hold the third valve down when we blow and have the third slide water key open, otherwise the air doesn't go through the third slide.
If it's yellow and shiny (even partially) it was lacquered, and you want to avoid removing what's left of it. If it's yellow and dull the lacquer is gone, and if you have to resort to chemicals anything that won't dissolve the solder shouldn't do harm, just try warm, soapy water and a brush first.
If trumpet valve and tuning slides are neglected by the player, they can become stuck or frozen by extra saliva. Clean your mouthpiece at least once a week by flushing it with warm (not hot) water. Okay, the simple solution is cleaning the mouthpiece regularly and appropriately.
The valves don't need to be oiled every time you play, but you should oil them two or three times a week or https://www.houzz.com/user/x0xgjds281 whenever they feel sluggish. In case you are to lazy to grease the slides and you feel that you are handy anyway will have not trouble pulling out the stuck slides with some tools form the garage, you will be in for an unpleasant surprise.
In order to avoid frozen slides and valves: it is recommended that a soapy water bathtub flush be done once per month. Unless these deposits effect the mechanical functioning of your instrument you do not need to worry about cleaning. Use with a polishing cloth and start the cleaning process.
Carefully thread the top valve cap clockwise, push the valve up and down a few times to distribute the oil, and you're all done and ready to do the next one. I've started using them to run valve oil through the horn to keep oxidation from reducing the resonant quality of the horn.
(The resistance between the water droplets from the rinse and the oil make the water-oil combination a super-slick lubricator, and this is why we cleaned the pistons last, so they could be quickly replaced in the valve casings without losing any of this water-oil combination).
