So one of the things we do a lot of here is chemical cleans. We spend the majority of our summer going through school instruments as well as a few personal instruments making sure they are cleaned and ready for the next year. Unfortunately though, we sometimes run into customers who have been less than kind to their instruments and that usually leads to much more costly repairs. Here are a few examples of people who waited too long to clean their horns:
As you can see, cleanliness is an important part of proper function of an instrument. Now none of these were a lost cause, but if proper cleaning was done on a regular basis then the repair bill would be lot lower; and the life of their instrument would be considerably better.
Here's a basic guide to what a chemical clean entails at Ellis County Music:
We completely disassemble the instrument and separate the parts that are safe to clean and unsafe to clean. We then degrease the instruments using a special thinning agent that removes the oils and grease from the horn and making it easier to clean the dirt and grime from the instrument. Once the grease is removed we dip the instrument in one of two solutions, depending on the metal composition of the instrument. After a small amount of time we then use special brushes to further clean out the inside of the instrument. After meeting our standards we then dry off the instrument and reassemble the instrument to factory standards. Here are two examples post chemical cleaning process:
So even though it came seem tedious and expensive at times there is a very huge difference when it comes to cleaning horns.
As you can see, cleanliness is an important part of proper function of an instrument. Now none of these were a lost cause, but if proper cleaning was done on a regular basis then the repair bill would be lot lower; and the life of their instrument would be considerably better.
Here's a basic guide to what a chemical clean entails at Ellis County Music:
We completely disassemble the instrument and separate the parts that are safe to clean and unsafe to clean. We then degrease the instruments using a special thinning agent that removes the oils and grease from the horn and making it easier to clean the dirt and grime from the instrument. Once the grease is removed we dip the instrument in one of two solutions, depending on the metal composition of the instrument. After a small amount of time we then use special brushes to further clean out the inside of the instrument. After meeting our standards we then dry off the instrument and reassemble the instrument to factory standards. Here are two examples post chemical cleaning process:
