An Easy, Convenient, and Practical Way to Keep Your Brass Instruments Clean
By Robert W. Ricker,
ESW, Director of Operations
Horn hygiene is important to all musicians. Keeping brass instruments clean can be tedious and time-consuming. However, with the advent of the Quick Horn Rinse (QHR), a horn can be cleaned and ready to play in as little as 20 minutes.
Many articles have been written about how to clean a brass instrument. Fill a tub with soapy water, tear down the horn, put all the parts into the tub and let them soak, snake what needs to be snaked, remove and rinse the parts, put it all back together, oil and grease as necessary. You are ready to play a clean horn after about a two-hour effort.
With the QHR Sudser, you load the soapy water into the horn through the lead pipe, filling all the tubing by depressing the valves. Once the horn is loaded with the soapy water, let it sit for a few minutes. Snake the lead pipe and any other tubing that might need it. Turn off the soap valve on the QHR Sudser and start rinsing the horn with clear water. Rinse all the soap and residue out of the horn. Drain the water from the horn, oil, and grease as necessary. You are ready to play with a clean horn after about 20 minutes.
Teaching the student how to clean and maintain their instrument is a responsibility of the band instructor in the elementary, middle, and high school. The QHR Sudser provides a teachable moment for the instructor. You can take the brass players to a utility sink with a school horn or one of the student’s horns and show them how to clean their instrument. The QHR is easy, convenient and practical to use at school, home, or on the road. A 14-year-old middle school student took his QHR Sudser home, read the instructions and proceeded to clean his horn with no problems according to his father.
During marching band season, instruments are on the field day after day, gathering dust and dirt. The QHR Sudser is an ideal way to keep marching instruments clean throughout the season. After the show, have the students leave their horns at school. Schedule some of the brass players to come into the band room to help with a cleaning session. Use the QHR Sudser to clean the horns and you have clean horns ready to go back on the field. The same process can apply for your concert season.
School instruments are often budgeted for chemical cleaning every year. This can be a major piece of the teacher’s budget. Meanwhile, throughout the year the horns are getting loaded up with dust, dirt, grunge, soda pop, food particles, etc. A regular cleaning with the QHR Sudser removes the dirt and residue from the horns and could extend the scheduled chem-clean requirement from 12 months to 18 months or even 2 years, saving budget money for other necessities of the band room.
The Quick Horn Rinse is endorsed by educators and professional musicians. Daniel Perantoni, Provost Professor (Tuba and Euphonium), Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University said: “I highly recommend the Quick Horn Rinse to all brass players.”
The QHR is built in two models:
HSB-001 for small brass fits french horns, trumpets, cornets, flugle horns and alto horns.
HLB-001 for large brass fits trombones, baritones, euphoniums and tubas.
SCB-001 is a QHR Sudser designed for the school environment, with both the HSB-001 and the HLB-001 MSRP $59.95.
BandDirector.com visitors can purchase the SCB-001 for $55.00 with free shipping in the continental US by using the discount code TCH during checkout at our web site www.QuickHornRinse.com. This offer is good through August 2013. You can link to our site from the BandDirector.com main page.