Basic French Horn Maintenance and Cleaning
Mouthpiece Cleaning:
It is highly recommended that you wash your mouthpiece regularly. It's best to buy a mouthpiece brush. You can find them on amazon.com for less than five dollars. Use Dawn blue soap or similar to disinfect and scrub bits of food out of it. It's especially important to do this frequently when you get sick or when you let me people try your mouthpiece.
Oiling Rotary Valves:
The frequency with which you oil your rotary valves can vary slightly depending on how much you play. If you play everyday for several hours you might need to oil them less than someone who practices three times per week. Some people will tell you to oil them everyday, while others say once a week. Depending on how they feel, the temperature, and the particular horn, sometimes you can get away with once every two weeks.
Put a drop of light rotor oil such as Blue Juice under the screw-on valve cap. This will slowly trickle down in-between the rotor and the valve casing, allowing it to stay frictionless. Blue juice has a detergent inside as well that keeps things moving well.
If your valves are really sluggish, you can pull out your valve slides and put a few drops down the tubes leading to the valves to get better coverage.
Sometimes I will use Hetman’s Synthetic 11 or lighter on the back of the valve (the part that turns). There is a little crack between the metal pieces that allows you access to the turning part of the valve. In Hetman’s Synthetic oils, the smaller the number, the lighter weight/viscosity of the oil).
Greasing Slides:
You can use either petroleum based grease (The Red Selmer grease works fine) or synthetic (Hetman’s), but not both together.
Put some on the end of the slides and work it into the horn slowly, sometimes just one tube at a time to get good coverage. Once the slide is all the way in, wipe the excess away with a paper towel so it doesn’t get all over your dress clothes when it’s sitting in your lap.
Bath Time:
Every couple weeks it’s not a bad idea to give your horn a bath to get all the bacteria and dirty grease out. Even if you brush your teeth before you play, you are still blowing warm hot air into a closed environment. Things are going to grow.
In your bathtub, put down a towel or rubber mat so you don’t dent your horn. Fill the tub with warm water and mix in a soap like Dawn blue (or similar) that cuts grease and kills bacteria.
Pull out all the slides. Take a picture of which one goes where so you can put it back together correctly!
Soak the horn in the tub for an hour or two and let the soap work. Take a kitchen scouring brush and LIGHTLY scrub the slides to help remove old dirty grease.
Run a snake brush through the slides to help clean them out.
**Do NOT run the snake through the horn valves. If they get stuck, you’ve got a problem and you have to take it to a professional repair person.**
While the horn is in the water, move your valves a bit to make sure the soapy water is getting inside.
**If you have FROZEN valves, do NOT push the valve buttons. You may break a string or something else. Use your finger to move the back of the valve (the place where the lever attaches) back and forth directly without the finger paddle.**
Rinse your horn thoroughly to remove all soap.
Put a few drops of oil in the normal spots, grease your slides, and get back to playing!
Chemical or Ultrasonic Cleaning:
Every year or two it is a good idea to take your horn to a professional instrument repair person (someone that’s been recommended to you) to take apart your horn and do a more thorough cleaning. This gets into all the hard to reach areas. They will also pull your valves out and remove corrosion, etc. Getting valves in and out without damaging them and without messing up the very sensitive alignments is best left up to the pros. Costs vary, but usually runs a couple hundred dollars.
**Disclaimer: I am not responsible for your instrument failure! Use good judgement. If unsure, ask a pro!**
Mouthpiece Cleaning:
It is highly recommended that you wash your mouthpiece regularly. It's best to buy a mouthpiece brush. You can find them on amazon.com for less than five dollars. Use Dawn blue soap or similar to disinfect and scrub bits of food out of it. It's especially important to do this frequently when you get sick or when you let me people try your mouthpiece.
Oiling Rotary Valves:
The frequency with which you oil your rotary valves can vary slightly depending on how much you play. If you play everyday for several hours you might need to oil them less than someone who practices three times per week. Some people will tell you to oil them everyday, while others say once a week. Depending on how they feel, the temperature, and the particular horn, sometimes you can get away with once every two weeks.
Put a drop of light rotor oil such as Blue Juice under the screw-on valve cap. This will slowly trickle down in-between the rotor and the valve casing, allowing it to stay frictionless. Blue juice has a detergent inside as well that keeps things moving well.
If your valves are really sluggish, you can pull out your valve slides and put a few drops down the tubes leading to the valves to get better coverage.
Sometimes I will use Hetman’s Synthetic 11 or lighter on the back of the valve (the part that turns). There is a little crack between the metal pieces that allows you access to the turning part of the valve. In Hetman’s Synthetic oils, the smaller the number, the lighter weight/viscosity of the oil).
Greasing Slides:
You can use either petroleum based grease (The Red Selmer grease works fine) or synthetic (Hetman’s), but not both together.
Put some on the end of the slides and work it into the horn slowly, sometimes just one tube at a time to get good coverage. Once the slide is all the way in, wipe the excess away with a paper towel so it doesn’t get all over your dress clothes when it’s sitting in your lap.
Bath Time:
Every couple weeks it’s not a bad idea to give your horn a bath to get all the bacteria and dirty grease out. Even if you brush your teeth before you play, you are still blowing warm hot air into a closed environment. Things are going to grow.
In your bathtub, put down a towel or rubber mat so you don’t dent your horn. Fill the tub with warm water and mix in a soap like Dawn blue (or similar) that cuts grease and kills bacteria.
Pull out all the slides. Take a picture of which one goes where so you can put it back together correctly!
Soak the horn in the tub for an hour or two and let the soap work. Take a kitchen scouring brush and LIGHTLY scrub the slides to help remove old dirty grease.
Run a snake brush through the slides to help clean them out.
**Do NOT run the snake through the horn valves. If they get stuck, you’ve got a problem and you have to take it to a professional repair person.**
While the horn is in the water, move your valves a bit to make sure the soapy water is getting inside.
**If you have FROZEN valves, do NOT push the valve buttons. You may break a string or something else. Use your finger to move the back of the valve (the place where the lever attaches) back and forth directly without the finger paddle.**
Rinse your horn thoroughly to remove all soap.
Put a few drops of oil in the normal spots, grease your slides, and get back to playing!
Chemical or Ultrasonic Cleaning:
Every year or two it is a good idea to take your horn to a professional instrument repair person (someone that’s been recommended to you) to take apart your horn and do a more thorough cleaning. This gets into all the hard to reach areas. They will also pull your valves out and remove corrosion, etc. Getting valves in and out without damaging them and without messing up the very sensitive alignments is best left up to the pros. Costs vary, but usually runs a couple hundred dollars.
**Disclaimer: I am not responsible for your instrument failure! Use good judgement. If unsure, ask a pro!**
