Yamaha Cleaning Swab (for slide)

[PaulT]

These may be old news, but they were new to me. I picked up a couple this winter. They work really slick and I think they are very cool. I run a couple through my inner slide after each playing. Quick as a whistle. I have another one I use as the final step when I clean the outer slide. And I have modified the Euph cleaner (lengthened the pull) and run it through the bell section after each playing. I also ended up getting the mouthpiece swab. (that may have been one swab too far, but it is slick and I like it)

(I am such a good Yamaha customer they put me on their Christmas Card list. )




https://www.hickeys.com/music/brass/tro ... ofibre.php

[walldaja]

Great idea to keep the horn clean.

[CalgaryTbone]

How is the swab connected to the pull cord? I was using a similar product from Reka (one of the companies making liquid slide lube). I was using it on my smaller bore horns, kike alto and jazz tenor, because my Slideomix terrycloth swabs only seemed to do a good job on larger bore horns.

The swab of the Reka cleaner broke off in my outer slide one night - it made for an emergency trip to the repair tech the next day.

I would suggest that you check the connection between the cord and the swab before each use. I love the idea of using something like this, because it's so compact and easy to carry with you, but I'm not willing to go through another stressful experience like that again.

Jim Scott

[Posaunus]

The swab of the Reka cleaner broke off in my outer slide one night - it made for an emergency trip to the repair tech the next day.

Jim Scott

This is why I use the HW Products Brass-Saver, to swab both inner and outer slides of my trombones. ("Trombone" size for small-bore; "Tuba" set for large-bore.) Followed by appropriate Slide-O-Mix towel sheath and some air-drying time before I reassemble the slide "dead dry."

[CalgaryTbone]

Is that the soft bristle brush connected with a pull cord? If so, that's the same thing I use ( the packaging is long gone, and I forgot the name of the product). I use that, along with the Slideomix towel sheath as well.

Back to the original topic - I'm curious about this Yamaha product, and wondering how it's put together.

[PaulT]

I have four of the HW Brass-Savers. In my opinion, they don't do nearly as good a job of cleaning and drying as the Yamaha swab.

The bristles on the Brass-Savers aren't absorbent, they do push out moisture, but they also always leave some behind (smearing the moisture around rather than removing it). When I used the HWs, I would always run a second one behind the first one, and the second one would sometimes be nearly as wet as the first one. (it's why I eventually ended up with four of them).

I was happy with Brass-Savers. But I am a good deal happier with the Yamaha product. The Yamaha swab forms a snug fit and is absorbent. And you get 22 inches of drying cleaning fabric rather than the 7 inches of non-absorbent bristles the HW offers. The Yamaha swab does a better job of both drying and cleaning than the non-absorbent (spun nylon?) bristles used by HW.

As for the connection of the swab to the pull cord, it is a tightly stitched 4 inch overlap of cord and fabric. It looks and feels secure as heck. I expect it is.

[PaulT]

I also use and recommend the Slide-O-Mix sheath thing (as nearly everyone seems to):

This



But I run the Yamaha swab through after it just in case it left any lint or fuzz.

[Posaunus]

The bristles on the Brass-Savers aren't absorbent, they do push out moisture, but they also always leave some behind (smearing the moisture around rather than removing it). When I used the HWs, I would always run a second one behind the first one, and the second one would sometimes be nearly as wet as the first one.

I was happy with Brass-Savers. But I am a good deal happier with the Yamaha product. The Yamaha swab forms a snug fit and is absorbent. And you get 12 inches of drying cleaning fabric rather than the 4 inches of non-absorbent bristles the HW offers. The Yamaha swab does a better job of both drying and cleaning than the non-absorbent (spun nylon?) bristles used by HW.
...
I also use and recommend the Slide-O-Mix sheath thing (as nearly everyone seems to).
But I run the Yamaha swab through after it just in case it left any lint or fuzz.

Paul,

You're right about the Brass-Saver - it does not completely dry the slide, and comes out wet. I pass mine through each inner slide and outer slide twice, drying the brush with a towel between passes. (A very helpful step!) This leaves the interior of the slides mostly dry. I then finish the drying and polishing with a cleaning rod wrapped with cotton cloth or a Slide-O-Mix towel sheath.

As you do, I'm a believer in the "belt and suspenders" approach. I figure if I keep my slides clean, dry, and dent-free, they'll last forever. All mine (many rather old) are still pristine and function perfectly.

[PaulT]

I posted late at night and the respective lengths I guessed at were wrong and have now been corrected.

The "Brass Saver" brush is 7" long and the Yamaha "swab" is 22" long.

I just ran a quick little down and dirty absorbency test between the HW and Yamaha and the difference wasn't as great as I thought it would be. There were some issues with the my test that I will describe later, but as I ran it, the Yamaha swab held 13 grams of water while the HW brush held 10 grams (30% more).

I weighed each product dry and then weighed them again after dipping them in water. The Yamaha swab takes in water by capillary action (absorbs like a towel) while the HW brush holds water by surface tension (and its multiple bristles offer plenty of surfaces to hold to). And that was where the testing rub lay. I had no good way of measuring how much of the "water gathered" becomes "water lost" due to compression (as the swab/brush is squeezed while traveling through the tube).

Enter the down and dirty, I just pulled each through my curled fingers in a manner I thought basically fair and somewhat representative of the job at hand. But, I don't think I duplicated the process that well. In practice, my strong suspicion is that the Yamaha swab will do an excellent job of "holding on" to its "picked up" moisture until it approaches saturation, while the HW's bristles offer more of an easy "water on/water off" bus stop approach (the water picked up by the bristles is more easily knocked off through the tube-travel).

But at the imaginary Science Fair I entered, my experiment lost points for rigor and accuracy and all I got from the judges was a 'smiley face' sticker.

In short, a towel is generally more absorbent than a brush, but both can hold and move water. I have both the Yamaha Swab and the HW Brass Saver and I use both. I run the brush first and then follow with the swab.

The Yamaha Swab is easier to use (it is slick and quick) and it rolls and folds easily into almost nothing. The HW plastic draw cord has a of mind of it own when it comes to storage (bit of springy bugger).


(I am not a scientist. But, I did run several highly thought of experiments while I was in Cub Scouts)