I have this problem where, every couple of mouths I get this cold sore right about my lip where I put pressure on with my mouthpiece. Its annoying because its painful and it takes forever to go away. My friend (a flute player) told me that putting alcohol on his mouthpiece helped him with problems like that, but I really have no idea how that might effect my mouthpiece.

I don't think alcohol does any damage to silver or gold plating. When you use the minty sanitizing spray, it's pretty much mint-scented alcohol.

Alcohol will not affect your moutpiece in a negative way. I suggest you use the 70% sollution, don't use anything higher. The 70% will do a better job than the higher concentrations. You can wipe your mouthpiece before and after each use.

You could also wipe your lip with the alcohol once a day. Perhaps before you go to sleep; be sure to breathe in bfore wiping your lip and then exhale through your nose after wiping. You don't want to inhale the alcohol right after application.

First things first:

1. Do you share you horn or mouthpiece with anyone else? If you share the horn, you might not be able to do much about it, but you should clean it out as often as you can. If you share the mouthpiece, stop. Buy your own. That is the most common source of this type of cold sore; contracting it from someone else using your horn or piece.

2. How often do you clean you horn? Spraying your mouthpiece with alcohol (or one of the many products out there designed specifically for this purpose for us brass players) is definitely the first thing you should do, but it could be something inside your horn as well.

There was a story I read years ago about a brass player in England who was getting very sick (like pneumonia) and she would go to hospital and battle it, get better, go back to school, and get sick again. They finally figured out it was the mold and crap growing in her horn that would make her sick every time she inhaled. She cleaned her horn and her sickness issues ended.

3. Could it be something different? Are you sure it's from your mouthpiece? (just looking for an possibilities) What is the condition of your mouthpiece? Is it pristine and beautiful, or is the lacquer scratched up with the raw brass underneath? Is it clean in the first place, or is it chunky and crusty?

Maybe you should take the horn to your local music store and see if they can give your horn a chemical cleaning. It does cost money, but it cleans the horn out amazingly.

Well, jeez not that you mention it there are a lot of possibilities, I guess the best way to figure this out is to describe the condition of my horn. Well, first of all when I got my trombone, it would of come with a new 1G mouthpiece. But the vendor obviously said that that was too big, so he gave me what looked like a used 6 1/2 AM mouthpiece. The condition was pretty good, all it needed was a little cleaning, and now I clean my mouthpiece everyday with hot water and soap. I guess that might leave my instrument. I don't know how the music store takes care of their instruments, but when I first used it it was covered in dust, but when I wiped the dust off it had an amazing finish wish no dents or scratches. But sometimes before I play theres a nasty smell that comes out of my horn, but I assume that its just the cream that I use (trombitine). I have cleaned it out before, but one thing a haven't cleaned is the end crook of the outer slide. But soon I'm going to the music store to get some supplies, so hopefully that will help.

Oh ya and thanks for the info guys!

Ok, there is the info we need. And right off the bat, I notice some issues.

Your horn should not smell. Ever. So, think about this. Think about how long it has been since you last cleaned it. Really cleaned it, like letting the outer slide soak full of warm water and degreaser. Been a while? Now, think about how long it takes for mold to set. Couple of days? Less? So.... which one is longer?

Now for the mouthpiece. Yes, a 1G would have been way too big, that's a bass bone piece. The 6 1/2 is the right size, that's what I recommend to young players. However, it is used. Is the rim scratched at all? If so, you may be exposing yourself to the raw brass underneath, which is not that great for you.

And water and soap will not do the trick. That makes it look clean, but it does not kill the bacteria that causes cold sores.

So, here's what you need to do.

1. Go to the music store and buy a trombone snake and cleaning rod and a spray bottle of mouthpiece sanitizer. Something like:
http://www.wwbw.com/Giardinelli-Magic-Mist-Hygenic-Mouthpiece-Cleaner-i765951.music

2. Go to the grocery store and buy a bottle of Simple Green (in the cleaning supply isle) or something similar. Something similar being biodegradable degreaser.

3. Take all that home. Fill the outer slide with warm water and Simple Green and let it soak for 20-30 minutes, letting the degreaser do it's job. Shake it good, then empty it and go to town on it with your snake and cleaning rod. Do this a couple times. Do the same with the inner slide, obviously without the soaking part.

4. Spray the mouthpiece with the disinfectant spray.

5. If you still get sick after, take your horn back to the shop and tell them you need a new mouthpiece and a chemical cleaning. Is this a rental? If it is, trade it in.


Hope that helps, let us know if it does or not!

Good luck!

Erik,

Why do you not soak the inner slide in warm water also?
Why just the outer slide?

I am truely curios.

Two reasons.

1. You can see through the inner slide from end to end, and with a cleaning rod, you can get it plenty clean and see when it is clean. Plus, the outer slide has the crook, the inner slide is just two straight tubes, the cleaning rod gets every bit of it, while in order to actually clean the crook of the outer slide, you have to soak it and use a snake.

2. The inner slide doesn't need it as much, since there is no way to get grease and lube built up inside it, unless you are doing something very wrong. That's the main culprit to a sluggish, sticky slide; buildup of grease, cream, lube, whatever-you-call-it on the inside of the outer slide. (Outside of dents, of course...) If you let it soak in warm water and biodegradable degreaser, it breaks up that lube and you can clean it out with a snake.

Wow, thanks for the info!

I think my dad was going to take my of the music store in the next day or to two get some supplies.

Maybe it is the mouthpiece, I haven't really noticed any scratches on the rim, but I did just drop it the other day and I think it has one now.

I think I'm ready to switch to a bigger mouthpiece anyway, so what would the next size be?

Unless you think the piece you are on now is too small and that effects your playing, don't bother switching. The 6 1/2 is already bigger than the piece that normally comes with horns, a 12C.

I would stick to the 6 1/2 until you have really mastered the horn and the concept of sound quality. That would be, for the average player, year 4-6.

As for the medical part, absolutely. That is not something you want to screw around with. If they are "real" cold sores, then you need to see a doctor. As far as I know, (and someone can correct me) once you have them, they never go away, no matter how long you go without having one appear. But you can get medication that keeps them down, or relieves them once they come up.

Another reason to NEVER share your mouthpiece! These things can be passed along even if the other person does NOT have any cold sores showing!

Zoom and Erik are absolutely correct on seeing the doctor. If this is recurring you should get it checked to confirm it is or it is not something serious.

There are over 100 HPVs. Over 40 of those are mucosal types; any of which could be in or around your mouth. Once you have the virus you will always have the virus. Although there are anti-viral drugs they reserved for serious affectations of viruses and recent pathologies are showing they are not as effective as they were thought to be. Not to mention the serious side effects they cause.

According to my medical resource at this time the anti-virul drugs are actually being used more for other symptoms and treatment than their intended uses. Kind of like Viagra is being used for new born babies with pulmonary hypertension to allow them to breathe more correctly.

Tell your doctor what is happening and next breakout go to him or her that day; don't wait for an appointment. They will want to fit you in so they can see it and get a good sample of it.

The average player year is 4-6 years?

I've only been playing for more than 1 year!

Well I've never shared mouthpieces with anyone, and my mom used to be a nurse and she gives me some kind of cream. And that seems to work, but I can't really tell cause I don't know how long the bump would normally last.

No no, what I meant was, the average player takes 4-6 years to figure out the horn technically and get a good concept of sound and tone quality.

Uhh, ok.