I guess this is a pretty easy question, how do I clean out my trombone?

With a snake and luke warm water. Or cold, either works. If you don`t have a snake and don`t feel like going to your local music store and spending the 14 cents on it (exageration) you can use a (very) straight piece of metal (Bach trombones sometimes come with them, as well as some other manufactures) and an old rag. Rip up the old rag, attach it to the end of the metal rod, and clean it out. It`s not too hard, since it is mainly a straight piped instrument. I`ve also heard of some people taking showers or baths with their horns, but that just seems a bit extreme to me. Once it is really clean, use a good lube, I suggest "SuperSlick" and a spray bottle full of water, and lube it real good. It`s also great for us to have 2 polishing rags, one for the dirty stuff, the inside of the slide and such, and one clean one for the bell, outer slide, and anything else your hands touch. That`s all there really is to it!

i suggest spending the BIG TIME bucks ($40) on a slide-o-mix cleaning rod. This rod is a metal rod wrapped in a terry cloth sheath for cleaning out your slides. this will make cleaning your slides easy.

also in the water in your tub i suggest using a light dish soap. It will help take out or loosen up all that nasty gunk that builds up then you can snake it out.


on a side note with the slide-o-mix rod i suggest you clean your slides at least once a week or if your like me do it every other day. then again im pretty obsessive compulsive when it comes to my horns.

Something you may like to consider (which I was pointed towards by a professional trombonist) is the Reka Cloth cleaner, which is a nylon string (or somthing like it) with a piece of cloth attached to one end.

You pull this through your slide unlike the rod and cloth method, it cleans the full crook as well avoids the possible damage you can cause with the rod, and is excellent at cleaning the slide.

I have now thrown away my rods.

http://www.music123.com/REKA-Cloth-Cleaner-for-Trombone-Slide-i99192.music

Windex all the way! I used to do the whole bathtub thing, but Windex is less of a pain and it does the trick. It makes it nice and shiny, too. I use dish soap on my mouthpiece, and it makes it shiny, too. Oh, and I wouldn`t use Windex on silver plated. Baaaaad things happen when you use funky chemicals on silver, I`ve seen.