Continuing in my limited series of disturbing videos I have selected this gem. YouTube has an ever increasing library of self help videos which strive to inform our world on various subjects. Many of these are very helpful and in some cases, they can be very destructive as in the case of this video-
Please read this post completely before trying the above instructions.
This could possible be the worst instructional video on the internet! If these instructions are followed as described in the video, I can guarantee that you will have ruined your instrument and for that reason, I will list the many destructive elements described in the video.
Bad advice #1
Never place your instrument in an unprotected position as shown in this video. Notice the clanking sound as the instructor places the instrument back in the sink. Unless you enjoy counting dents in your horn, it is far better to place the instrument flat at the bottom of the sink.
Bad advice #2
Never apply MAGIC VALVE TRUMPET CLEANER to anything! As you can hear in the video, as the person rotates the valve in its casing, you can actually hear the grinding sound as it is rotated. MAGIC VALVE TRUMPET CLEANER is no more than a lapping compound which is used to wear down metal parts.
Bad advice #3
Never rotate the valve in its casing. As valves are used, they eventually will seat within its own casing which means that the position and direction of your finger as it pushes the valve down, will eventually force the valve to its own position within its casing. This is similar to the pistons in a car engine. Eventually each piston and set of piston rings will find a natural path as it moves up and down in the cylinder.
Bad advice #4
Forcing a valve up and down 50 to 60 times while coated with an abrasive as this has shown has permanently damaged the instrument. Notice that your instructor even describes his action as lapping. When metal is lapped, metal is removed. As metal is removed, the piston becomes thinner and the valve casing becomes larger. As the tolerance is increased between the two, compression is lost. As compression is lost, the playing characteristic of the instrument worsens. The valves will seem to go up and down easier at first but after additional playing the loosening of the tolerance will generate problems much worse than the original problem.
Bad advice #5
Unless the instructor has been setting fires in his horn (at this point, I’m not really sure what this person is capable of doing) there should be no possibility of soot collecting in a trumpet.
Bad advice #6
This should warrant jail time for our instructor. I am certain that every real trumpet player viewing this video instantly became ill and suffered from an acute desire to place their hands around the instructors neck. I have never seen anything as destructive, senseless and down right stupid in my whole life. The gifted trumpet designer and acoustician Renold Schilke once told me to never rotate a valve in its casing and here this moron is inserting the valve in from the bottom. Never, under any circumstance should a valve be inserted from the bottom.
Bad advice #7
The conclusion of this video encourages you to view a following video on cleaning the valves. I urge you never view any video produced by this person, even if your life depends on it.
Did I make myself perfectly clear?
This product reminds me very much of a process I have seen (and been encouraged to use) by a few older players in which “Lava” soap was worked into one’s wet hands and then applyed to the valves which were then “cleaned” in basically the same manner that this “repairman” describes.
While it will indeed remove some of the grime the builds up on valves and casings it is certainely a very harsh and abrasive way to clean them.
I can especially imagine the damage that it could do to a horn with a very “tight” valve block like those on Ren Schilke’s horns which are intentionally built with that very tight tolerance. I would however point out that on some horns (Holton, some newer Benges) the tolerance between the valve and the casing is so large that I doubt it would make much difference in the compression of the horn.Not that it’s not still likely to scratch the casings and possibly the valves themselves regardless of whether they are plated, monel or whatever.
I would call this product a very bad substitute for a good professional cleaning even
though some horns will require a while to break in again after they are cleaned.
BTW – I totally agree with you about this klanging the horn around in the sink business. If one’s sink is not large enough to set the whole horn in then I would argue that the horn shuldn’t be placed in the sink.Even if it is large enough I would suggest not setting it directly on the porcelin or stainless material the sink is composed of but on a rubber type mat with holes that water can drain through.
After watching the video (don’t worry I was careful *LOL*) the conclusion I came to was that this guy is basically clueless and even though he may think that he is doing a good thing by providing a needed service he isn’t.
Hi Bruce
I actually had to turn it off because I couldn’t bear to view this person abusing the instrument. Terrible really.
Regards
Ruari
I played it for the guys in my trumpet ensemble and my neighbors could have heard the screams.
thanks for visiting our site.
Are you going to the wedding?
Dear Jim,
Comment- “While it (Lava) will indeed remove some of the grime the builds up on valves and casings it is certainely a very harsh and abrasive way to clean them”.
Response- I agree. Lava is my first choice for washing hands but as one responder pointed out, the consistency of abrasives in Lave varies tremendously and would be difficult to control.
Comment- “I can especially imagine the damage that it could do to a horn with a very “tight” valve block like those on Ren Schilke’s horns which are intentionally built with that very tight tolerance”.
Response- Being a Schilke player most of my life and now a Yamaha player, I may be overly conscious of the close tolerances.
Comment- “I would however point out that on some horns (Holton, some newer Benges) the tolerance between the valve and the casing is so large that I doubt it would make much difference in the compression of the horn”.
Response- You may be correct on this one. I have to admit that I have played on but never owned either Holton or Benge.
Comment- “I would call this product a very bad substitute for a good professional cleaning eventhough some horns will require a while to break in again after they are cleaned”.
Response- I agree.
Comment- “I totally agree with you about this klanging the horn around in the sink business. If one’s sink is not large enough to set the whole horn in then I would argue that the horn shuldn’t be placed in the sink. Even if it is large enough I would suggest not setting it directly on the porcelin or stainless material the sink is composed of but on a rubber type mat with holes that water can drain through.
Response- The lack of care bothered me a lot.
Comment- “After watching the video ….the conclusion I came to was that this guy is basically clueless and even though he may think that he is doing a good thing by providing a needed service he isn’t”.
Response- My concern is not that knowledgeable players will follow this but there are less experienced players out there that might go over board on the turning, polishing and end up damaging their instrument. Try to explain that to your mother or father.
Great visiting with you and please stop back often for we are striving to share information with our fellow musicians and everyone’s comments are worth discussing.
You guys live on a boat full of assumptions.
One assumption after another in your original post.
This stuff is awesome.
My 40 year old Radial was getting difficult to keep smoothly
operating, deposits had collected.
This stuff worked magic. No one else had an answer.
All the stuff I read about “Lava” and tooth paste and such is
just nuts.
Magic Valve saved me from considering the really expensive stuff.
Richard
Very interesting…..
I can’t see the video in my windows phone but all I read is true
.
Sorry, check it out on a computer.
And thanks for letting me know of the technical limitations.
Add this to your list: http://youtu.be/ZIvxF5rnPj8
Reading a lot I understood from repairman in forum you can use the tooth past to home-lap valves (as last resource), but NEVER coming from the bottom OR rotating the valves inside, but rather move them up a and down in the normal course of the valve in the cylinder, helping case and vale to settle. What do you think of that?
I was extremely hesitant to use Magic Valve http://www.musiciansfriend.com/brass-instruments/magic-valve-piston-valve-cleaner but after trying everything I could think of to clean my sticky euphonium valves, including hand polishing with Brasso and toothpaste, and using an electric toothbrush on the valves and valve casing, Magic Valve worked. Yes, it is taking off a small amount of metal, but all hand lapping is just that. I hated to make any permanent changes to my horn, but it meant the difference between not playing at all to actually being able to play music again.
Use anything that improves our playing I say.