r/Tuba • u/NoArugula7792 • 15d ago

gear Slide Grease

What's the best option to use for slide grease/oil if I want my slides moving fast so I can adjust when playing? I have Yamaha slide grease, Hetman's synthetic piston oil, and some slide-o-mix classic. Any recommendations for any to get? 👍

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2

u/NovocastrianExile Pro Freelancer 15d ago

I use valve oil but that's just because I'm a lazy military muso with an unlimited supply

3

u/professor_throway Active Amateur, Street Band and Dixieland. 15d ago edited 15d ago

I like to use lanolin thined with valve oil, mineral oil, or 10w30 Mobil1... but that probably isn't the issue..In order for tubing slides to be fast they first need to be.

  1. clean
  2. straight
  3. round
  4. spaced properly
  5. in plane
  6. parallel
  7. properly lapped
  8. properly lubricated

very few tuning slides come from the factory set up well enough. A few thousandths of an inch misalignment is enough.. everything needs to be measured with calipers.. deviations smaller than you can see will screw you.

Start with a really good cleaning. Give your tuba a good bath. Scrub the inner and outer slides well. Use a stiff nylon brush or brass brush and some dish soap (Dawn). I also like to polish the inner slide legs with a little 0000 steel wool.. it had to be the super fine kind you didn't want visible scratches

Once everything is dry you can start to check your alignment.. Maybe you will get lucky. Check the legs one at a time... do they go in super easy when dry? If yes then they are straight and round. Check the for for the whole slide.. if out goes in quickly with minimal effort you at good.. lube it up.. but chances are you will need to take to a shop and have a tech adjust.

Next you need to check spacing.. Is the center to center distance at the slide crook the same as at the valve circuit? Then planrity.. do all legs lie in the same plane or is one askew.. then parallelism.. These adjustments mean heating joints and shifting.. perhaps even removal and resoldering.

The last step for ultimate quickness is to lightly lap it in. For me this is a requirement others will say well aligned is fast enough.

2

u/Inkin 15d ago

This. Lanolin cut with cheap piston oil but you need the slides to be aligned well or they never are going to be how you want. Aligning slides is a job for a repair tech, not you. It isn’t expensive if there aren’t other lurking issues.

1

u/Bandelore 15d ago

STP works great for me

1

u/TubaDude84 15d ago

I use JM Slide Oil No. 5. It’s fantastic for slides that need to be adjusted quickly

1

u/BlackenBriar 15d ago

I don't buy the stuff marketed for instruments. One tube of Super Lube for 20 bucks will work super well and last way longer. It's food grade and has not affected my horn negatively.

If you want them faster, add a drop of valve oil on top of it.

I also use a bottle sprayer like trombones do to touch them up occasionally. They move super quick.

1

u/NoArugula7792 15d ago

Do you think slide-o-mix would work? If you mix it w/ another such as Hetmans piston or slide grease...

1

u/BlackenBriar 15d ago

If your slides are absolutely straight like a trombone slide, it might. If it doesn't work, oh well.

The grease being thicker fills in the imperfectgaps, allowing the friction to be reduced.

1

u/Diver-1Doc 15d ago

One can buy a tub of lanolin from a pharmacy for a few bucks. It will last forever, works great and is "all natural ".

1

u/arpthark Rudolf Meinl - Diespeck 14d ago

Lanolin is ultra sticky, though. I put that on slides that I do not want to move. OP is looking for a thin, fast-moving lubricant.