Slide lock turns too easily?

[Harpcat]

What should I do to make this more secure? Tuning slide grease or what?
Thanks!

[BGuttman]

Paraffin wax is best. Rub the bottom of a candle on the threads. Stiff tuning slide grease is also good.

[JLivi]

Usually I have the opposite issue. Most slide locks are too tight for me.Any advice on how to loosen them up?

[ghmerrill]

One of mine (the Schiller bass) is pretty tight. The other (Olds tenor) is looser. I prefer the tight one.

There are actually two possible causes for the looseness: the first involves the threads in the ring; the second involves the hook arm that locks over the lug in the locked position.

To loosen threads up, the first thing to do is to clean them carefully and thoroughly. Often they're tight mostly because they're dirty. Otherwise, as previously suggested, some grease on it will help with smoothness. But it won't likely make it looser. In fact, grease will likely make it tighter/slower. You might try some oil on it.

Sometimes a slide lock is loose because the little "hook" that locks over the little "lug" is bent up off the slide a bit too much. I've had that happen. Look at it from the side and see if that's the case. Either the "horizontal" part that comes directly off the ring may have gotten bent up to some degree, or maybe the short locking hook at the end got bent out a bit. If one of those is the problem, you can -- carefully -- bend it back into place a bit, and that may solve your problem. I had to do that on the Olds. The brass bends easily, but you need to be careful to not snap the locking arm off the ring.

Keep in mind that as your bumpers wear, your "locked" position will loosen up.

[kingsk1117]

I have s similar issue with my bass bone slide lock, in that it very easily moves while I am playing and gets in the way of bring the slide into the first position. I have tried candle wax and a few other heavy greases, and they work for a short time, but then the threads moves the stuff out of the way so that it is very loose again.

[ghmerrill]

In that case you need something that fills the threads and won't leak out very readily. So something kind of sticky. I might give it a shot with plumber's putty. Or some sort of liquid plastic that would dry in a relatively flexible state.

But you might also try the Most Frequently Used Generic Thread Filler ... Teflon tape. Take the lock off, put one or two wraps of teflon tape on the threads that are on the horn, and then screw the lock back on. It won't last forever, but it may last quite a while before you need to replace it.

[JohnL]

But you might also try the Most Frequently Used Generic Thread Filler ... Teflon tape. Take the lock off, put one or two wraps of teflon tape on the threads that are on the horn, and then screw the lock back on. It won't last forever, but it may last quite a while before you need to replace it.

Plus it’s “adjustable” to some extent -more tape for a tighter fit.

[whitbey]

I had one a few years ago that was terribly loose. I put a piece of 35mm slide film under it and trimmed with a razor.It was still working several years later when I sold it.

[minemax03]

Kind of a long shot, but when I had my student model, you could just get the slide out of the way and spin the slide lock a couple times around to tighten it up.

[PaulT]

If your slide lock is loose because you can turn the catch as far as it can go and it still isn't compressing the bumper, then the bumper pad needs to be replaced or augmented. A simple job at a repair shop. I had it done to one of my horns and I wasn't even charged for it. With the new bumper pad, the slide lock compressed the pad nicely and was nice and snug with some travel left in the turn.

[baileyman]

You can unscrew the lock ring and then slightly compress it into an oval, only slightly.

Try lip balm on the threads.

Girls' ponytail elastics (small shock cords) make marvelous bumpers that will not fail.