TromboneChat

Curious how everyone ended up using the lubricant they currently use and their thoughts behind it.

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Started with Super Slick in the 70s. Later, while a Marine bandsman I was turned on to Lemon Pledge in the pump bottle by a instrument repair specialist. After they stopped selling it (in the late 90s) I used SlideOmix. A few years ago I was introduced to Yammie Snot by Irvin Karan (Slidebone) and have stuck with it ever since.

Started many decades ago with Pond's Cold Cream; seemed to work fine at the time if wiped very thin and followed by a water spray mist. For a while I used Super Slick cream; similar to Pond's. More recently, I was introduced to (2-part Classic) Slide-O-Mix by slide magician Bruce Belo, who believes in it religiously; works better than creams. Then I discovered Yamaha Slide Lubricant; works great and more convenient to apply. I get similar excellent results with Slide-O-Mix Rapid Comfort. Use either on old and new slides, applied very sparingly. Slides cleaned inside & out regularly (every day or two), then re-lubed. I'm a happy camper.

I started using Pond's cold cream back in the 1960s. Had a layoff from the late 1960s through the mid 1980s. When I came back Pond's had changed and wasn't what it used to be. Went the usual route of Conn Formula 3, Superslick, Trombotine, then used with the Superslick additive. Never really liked the silicones (Rapid Comfort, Slide-O-Mix). Found some new old stock copy of Pond's that worked great. Discovered UltraPure slide prep works great as a "refresher" on my ersatz Pond's (and everything else I or my friends have tried it on). Never really got comfortable with UltraPure as the sole lube, though.

Slide-O-Mix Rapid Comfort is my current go-to after using their two-part product for a number of years. Before that, it was Pond's. However, I still have fond memories of Jr. High School band when we were using that Holton slide oil which was only over-priced Kerosene. I can still smell and taste it!

Used Ponds in the 60s. When I got back to trombone 30 years later the Ponds formula changed enough it didn't word. Tried Yamaha cream but didn't like having to use the water spray refresher. Using 2 part Slide-o-Mix now. No complaints.

SmokeyBear20252 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 1:24 pm Slide-O-Mix Rapid Comfort is my current go-to after using their two-part product for a number of years. Before that, it was Pond's. However, I still have fond memories of Jr. High School band when we were using that Holton slide oil which was only over-priced Kerosene. I can still smell and taste it!

Well, it wasn't pure kerosene. It was a mixture of kerosene and some 3 in 1 oil. About the only thing I could say that's good about it is you can't overoil the slide. Great for kids who have no concept of "less is better".

In any given week, I probably play 4 of my trombones. And most of the time the slides are all pretty crappy. I've learned more or less to play on slides of varying smoothness. Every now and then I get sick of it and go through and lube each slide as I play it. At those points I remember that the instrument is a lot more fun when you don't have a crappy slide. The slides aren't in bad repair, they're just not lubed properly.

I started using Superslick. I think I have the original container I used 45 years ago, and it's still usable! At some point I got fancy and started using Trombotine. Then I got a container of Yamasnot with a horn I bought. Then I got some Slide-o-mix just to compare them all. I always wipe down the slide before applying. I should probably clean the outer slide before switching products, but I haven't done that.

- Slide Dr stuff. I think the pink and green stuff the slide dr sells is very effective and lasts a long time, but the quality of the slide depends on your application technique. And I don't do it frequently enough to get really good at it. If you screw it up, you get a gummy slide until you wash it out hard. Plus, those little bottles are expensive. I gave up on this because of the combination of expense and technique dependency.

- Super Slick and Slide-o-mix with the 3 part system are just too fussy, too much work and too many little things to carry around without losing, so I eliminated them from the comparison

- Yamasnot seems to work great, but it is adversely affected by hot and cold weather. It gets runny. Plus, sometimes that cap flies out when you're applying too much pressure, and I get nervous about the lateral pressure it seems to encourage you to apply to the slide. So for practical reasons I gave up on this too.

- Trombotine is ok. I use it. The little tube lasts forever, and the one I have looks like a left over from the 1950s. And if I can't find my main go-to stuff, and this one happens to be within reach, I'll use it. It works, but you've got to get the amount right. Too much gums up the slide, and it definitely needs water.

- The one I actually wind up using most is Slide-o-mix Rapid Comfort. One little bottle. You can use it with or without water. It's convenient, and slippery enough. This may also be affected by temperature, as I have one bottle that went runny on me, but I think it was part of the 3 part system, not the Rapid Comfort.

- In my perpetual "beta mode", a friend told me about Hetmans Hydroslide. I stopped using other Hetmans stuff because it gums up my valves, but at some point I'm going to order some Hydroslide and see if it's any good on my slides. Along with some Blue Juice for my valves....

It came with my new Yamaha.

I love Blue Juice for my piston valves (Euphonium and Eb tuba) but it doesn't do much for my rotors. I use a spindle oil that I scraped off an almost empty container (my company used it for high speed drilling machines and an "empty" 5 gallon container had about a pint of stuff left in. That pint has lasted me for 15 years and there's still a lot left. I don't recommend you try to buy it unless you plan to repackage it to sell since it only comes in 5 gallon pails or larger. It's Mobil Velocite 10.

I started out with super slick when I started playing. After not playing for about 15 years, I bought a horn with slide o mix rapid comfort in the case which seems to be a lot less picky in application. I carry both now but find I tend to reach for the slide o mix way more often.

In college, I used Trombotine with the Formula 3 or Superslick silicone additive stuff. Worked pretty well together. My prof. used Trombotine and kept a list of the dates that he bought a new tube and the price (usually about 7 years between tubes!)

In grad. school, a visiting professor we had showed me the Yamaha stuff—I might have just not had anything with me at the time and needed something to apply—and I was hooked.

hyperbolica wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 1:57 pm
- Yamasnot seems to work great, but it is adversely affected by hot and cold weather. It gets runny. Plus, sometimes that cap flies out when you're applying too much pressure, and I get nervous about the lateral pressure it seems to encourage you to apply to the slide. So for practical reasons I gave up on this too.

They have actually switched to a more customary squeeze nozzle tip, so no worries about applying pressure to your inner slide. I actually never owned a bottle with the press applicator—when I first was turned onto it, about 2009, they had not switched to that style yet…and by the time I bought new bottles this year, they had stopped using it! (I didn’t play an awful lot between 2011 and last year)

Started with slide-o-mix 2-part. Worked ok, was a bit of a faff and I always ran out of the small bottle quickly, maybe I was just using too much?

Moved to Yamasnot which worked very well on slides in good condition for me. For slides with slight alignment issues or worn stockings, it seemed to work well at first but not last that long.

Tried rapid comfort that came with a horn. It held up a bit better than the Yamaha on ‚sub-prime‘ slides but also had to be replenished quite often.

Now I mainly use Trombotine with a very small drop of the small slide-o-mix bottle and plenty of water. Lasts ages and is very reliable in all conditions.

However, one horn I have seems happier with the Yamasnot, by coincidence it‘s a Yamaha and feels the slide with a relatively tight tolerance.

The teacher I took private lessons from in HS showed me Superslick plus the little bottle - that was in the mid 80s, and I stuck with that until the early 2000s when Edwards/Getzen put out a video recommending Trombotine. I think the Trombotine is thicker and you need less of it compared to Superslick, and I think the action might be slightly better with Trombotine. And I think plain cream works better with newer slides whereas my old mid-80s Bach 42 needs a drop from the small bottle of Superslick silicone.

I think I've heard of some people using the Yamaha lube as a replacement for the Superslick small treatment bottle (to be used in conjunction with slide cream) - can anyone here verify that they've tried this?

Boneuphtoner wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 7:29 am I think I've heard of some people using the Yamaha lube as a replacement for the Superslick small treatment bottle (to be used in conjunction with slide cream) - can anyone here verify that they've tried this?

Yup https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php? ... 20#p158094

ithinknot wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 7:45 am

Boneuphtoner wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 7:29 am I think I've heard of some people using the Yamaha lube as a replacement for the Superslick small treatment bottle (to be used in conjunction with slide cream) - can anyone here verify that they've tried this?

Yup https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php? ... 20#p158094

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

MrHCinDE wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 2:17 am Started with slide-o-mix 2-part. Worked ok, was a bit of a faff and I always ran out of the small bottle quickly, maybe I was just using too much?

Moved to Yamasnot which worked very well on slides in good condition for me. For slides with slight alignment issues or worn stockings, it seemed to work well at first but not last that long.

Tried rapid comfort that came with a horn. It held up a bit better than the Yamaha on ‚sub-prime‘ slides but also had to be replenished quite often.

Now I mainly use Trombotine with a very small drop of the small slide-o-mix bottle and plenty of water. Lasts ages and is very reliable in all conditions.

However, one horn I have seems happier with the Yamasnot, by coincidence it‘s a Yamaha and feels the slide with a relatively tight tolerance.

Talked about it in the episode but I think running out of the small bottle too fast with Slide O Mix is a universal problem lol.

Also forgot to drop my spotify links for anyone who uses Spotify.

I read threads on here that leaned towards the Yamaha lube, bought some, stuck with it. I ended up with some Yamaha cream with a YSL-364 I bought, never used it, sold it on with the horn.

I just followed the instructions on the back of the bottle.

hyperbolica wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 1:57 pm - Slide Dr stuff. I think the pink and green stuff the slide dr sells is very effective and lasts a long time, but the quality of the slide depends on your application technique. And I don't do it frequently enough to get really good at it. If you screw it up, you get a gummy slide until you wash it out hard. Plus, those little bottles are expensive. I gave up on this because of the combination of expense and technique dependency.

I'm sure you didn't mean it this way, but the way it's written makes it seem like the Slide Dr stuff is a slide lube. Please no one buy this and use it like slide-o-mix.

You use it to remove corrosion from the outer slide and buff/polish it. The only thing left of it after it is "applied" is a thin polymer layer, like car wax. It's a car care product.

harrisonreed wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 5:33 pm
I'm sure you didn't mean it this way, but the way it's written makes it seem like the Slide Dr stuff is a slide lube. Please no one buy this and use it like slide-o-mix.

No, of course not. It's a slide treatment that's very dependent on application technique. You'd use lubes in addition the treatment. Slide-o-mix is more effective when the slide is treated this way.

Depends on the horn for me. I use Slide-o-Mix Rapid Comfort on my 6H and Besson after first using the original 2-part formula to varying degrees of success. The Holton needs Trombotine and generous amounts of water spray to work effectively.

I may switch the 6H to Trombotine though.

The Besson, as I seem to recall, came with slide oil... The others had nothing.

Kevbach33 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 10:04 pm Depends on the horn for me. I use Slide-o-Mix Rapid Comfort on my 6H and Besson after first using the original 2-part formula to varying degrees of success. The Holton needs Trombotine and generous amounts of water spray to work effectively.

I may switch the 6H to Trombotine though.

The Besson, as I seem to recall, came with slide oil... The others had nothing.

I'm noticing alot of people on here switching to the one bottle from the two. I wonder why like I did the same thing mainly because I'm lazy but I wonder if the two bottles are getting phased out.

The one part (Rapid Comfort) became more popular because (1) less work and (2) you always seemed to run out of one or the other necessitating buying a full kit. It got better when they started selling the 2 parts separately. SOM works great for a lot of people; just not for me.

I started out with the Bach slide cream that came with my horn. _No_ idea how to use it. When I started taking lessons, I moved to Superslick + water at the recommendation of my teacher. I stuck with that all through college. Wasn't the best, but worked OK as long as I gave my horn regular baths.

As an adult, I switched to Superslick plus additive. Worked fabulously on my King 3B; the trick was to apply the cream at bath time, then wipe off and use the additive. If I had a long playing day, I swabbed the outer slide and reapplied.

I'm still using that, but my main jam now is Trombotine, work in and wipe off, followed with Yamaha lubricant. Someone here hipped me to that, and it works great.

The biggest thing is not the lubricant, however: it's cleaning the outer slide well. I've been known to clean my slide with a cleaning rod before each time I play.

Very simple and to the point...

Trial and error. I've tried everything that exists over the last 50+ years and finally hit the bull's eye with Yamaha Slide Lube. No turning back.

Kevbach33 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 10:04 pm Depends on the horn for me. I use Slide-o-Mix Rapid Comfort on my 6H and Besson after first using the original 2-part formula to varying degrees of success. The Holton needs Trombotine and generous amounts of water spray to work effectively.

I may switch the 6H to Trombotine though.

The Besson, as I seem to recall, came with slide oil... The others had nothing.

Updating this to say that I've switched my Conn to Trombotine. It's actually a lot smoother now, if a little slower, a sacrifice i can live with.

jorymil wrote: ↑Thu Mar 31, 2022 9:09 pm The biggest thing is not the lubricant, however: it's cleaning the outer slide well. I've been known to clean my slide with a cleaning rod before each time I play.

For me, it's this. I use one of those towelling sleeves over the cleaning rod regularly on the outers, makes a lot of difference.

My teacher recommended Pond's cold cream when I started playing in the 1960s. but have since switched to Superslick.

Pond’s or Superslick did not work on Yamaha’s YSL-697Z trombone. Alastair Kay said to use Yamaha Slude Oul. The only place that I could obtain it was Long and MacQuade in Toronto. It took several years to get a local brick and mortar store to carry it.

In school I had a teacher that swore by Trombotine, and I was driving an old Bach 42B (still am actually!) and I found that Trombotine got the job done. Nowadays I use the Yamaha snot and Trombotine depending on the horn (snot on newer slides, cream on my old school 42B) and it gets the job done.

I should say that I am interested in seeing what other people use and what hacks they may have to make their slides as slick as possible.

Used to use superslick religiously. Probably because it's what was available more than anything else.

Trombontine for crappy slides.

I was resistant to slide o mix until the 2 in 1 bottle came out (plus i had slides that slide o mix worked better with).

I use the yamagarbage for slides that aren't crap but need a longer lasting lube.v

How? Recommendations, and trial and error.

If you actually intended to ask why, it’s because I think they work the best of the lunes I’ve tried, that I’m willing to use, on the horns I play.

I initially used Trombotine as that was what my old teacher used, but when I got to college the other two guys in our wind ensemble both used Yamaha slide mix and eventually got me hooked on it as well and that's all I've used since. Works perfectly and is by far the easiest to work with, no need to carry a spray bottle around all the time.

Started with Superslick because that was what I knew of and was what came with my horn. Superslick never worked that good or I did not know enough how to use it. Later when I knew more I started to use slide-o-mix. One bottle always got empty before the other. Then I was introduced to trombotine and that I used on larger and heavier slides, often bass trombones and large tenors. When I became a collector of trombones ten years ago I started to buy packs of Yamaha Slide Lubricant, about 40 at a time and keep them in the refrigerator. The Yamaha stuff is great for bad slides but if not used and laying around the liquid separates into a clear liquid and chunks of white gunk. If shaken and put in the refrigerator it can heal again but my advice is to store unused bottles in a cold place or they will be useless. Trombotine is good and cheaper to use since a tube lasts forever.

/Tom

imsevimse wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:55 am Started wWhen I became a collector of trombones ten years ago I started to buy packs of Yamaha Slide Lubricant, about 40 at a time and keep them in the refrigerator. The Yamaha stuff is great for bad slides but if not used and laying around the liquid separates into a clear liquid and chunks of white gunk. If shaken and put in the refrigerator it can heal again but my advice is to store unused bottles in a cold place or they will be useless. Trombotine is good and cheaper to use since a tube lasts forever.

/Tom

Tom, Are you selling Yamaha Slide Lubricant? How
Much do you apply? rls

OneTon wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 12:52 pm

imsevimse wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:55 am Started wWhen I became a collector of trombones ten years ago I started to buy packs of Yamaha Slide Lubricant, about 40 at a time and keep them in the refrigerator. The Yamaha stuff is great for bad slides but if not used and laying around the liquid separates into a clear liquid and chunks of white gunk. If shaken and put in the refrigerator it can heal again but my advice is to store unused bottles in a cold place or they will be useless. Trombotine is good and cheaper to use since a tube lasts forever.

/Tom

Tom, Are you selling Yamaha Slide Lubricant? How
Much do you apply? rls

Slide needs to be wiped before every use and then a few drops on both slides on every horn that I'm going to play. I usually play and practice several horns each day and might lube more than once. The first time I orded 20 bottles and gave away a few to friends and the second time I ordered 40 and from them I have about 20 unopened and maybe 10 half empty stored in cases and in the refrigerator. I guess I've used about 25 bottles in 10 years, that's 2,5 bottles each year.

/Tom

Back when I started playing trombone there was a 2-component slide-o-mix thing that I used, a bit later it became the rapid comfort one component version so I used this one until I studied. One of my teachers during the studies recommended the Yamaha one because of the design of the bottle (with the lips or whatever you want to call it) which was indeed a game changer and lasted way longer than slide-o-mix. But Yamaha changed the design, so now it's the same as the slide-o-mix. Getting rid of my Yamaha stock now and then want to compare if I will continue with Yamaha or Slide-o-mix because the latter is wax cheaper over here.

imsevimse wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 2:14 pm
Slide needs to be wiped before every use and then a few drops on both slides on every horn that I'm going to play. I usually play and practice several horns each day and might lube more than once. The first time I orded 20 bottles and gave away a few to friends and the second time I ordered 40 and from them I have about 20 unopened and maybe 10 half empty stored in cases and in the refrigerator. I guess I've used about 25 bottles in 10 years, that's 2,5 bottles each year.

/Tom

I have been consuming no more than two bottles every three to five years, and sometimes only one. I confess to wiping the inner slides once a day, applying water, and playing a bit to confirm that more lubricant is needed. I may consider applying more lubricant. Thanks Tom.

I pretty much used what my teacher recommended. Started with Slide-O-Mix in high school and eventually switched to Yamaha. I've tried some others as well (Reka Super Slide, Trombotine) and nothing has performed better than the Yamaha, so I've stuck with that since.

You had two choices where I live when I was in middle school: trombotine or super slick. Teacher recommended trombotine so I went with that been using it ever since with a brief interlude of the Yamaha stuff in college.

I use the Yamaha Slide Lubricant. I started using it in 2007(ish) when Megumi Kanda recommended it to me...I studied with her in grad. school. I had to order it online from Japan as it wasn't available over in the United States yet. Eventually I was getting it from a place in Canada, then it started to become widely available worldwide. I used Rapid Comfort and Trombotine prior to that. Lots of good stuff out there, thankfully.

I used the slide cream that came with my trombone until freshman year of college, then my professor turned me onto the red bottles of slide-o-mix. I used that for a bit, switched to rapid comfort after a symphony buddy showed it to me, then switched to the Yama-snot based on some recommendations on here after I got a Shires large bore. I've since converted nearly everyone in my area, including my college professor and repair technicians, to the Yamaha stuff, and I haven't looked at anything else.

I started out with Slide oil, yech!
Then went to the Super slick combo.
My then teacher turned me on to Ponds in the Green top
Used that for a number of years
Kai Winding hipped me to the Pledge
Back to Super slick
Tried slide-o-mix it was OK except on my Alto Slide, it loves it
then Trombotine It was OK Still have some in case
the Yamaha stuff is the best Imo

For me it was trial and error.
I’ve got a 72H that loves Yamasnot.
I also have a TR180 that loves Trombotine.

Late 60s: Ponds, stolen from mom. When Trombotine entered the market in the 70s, I started using it, for years and years. Slide-O-Mix combo followed, didn' t like it too much ->Trombotine.
Rapid Comfort also left hard to get rid of remains -> Trombotine.
Yamaha Snot vers. 1 and 2. , as well as Super Slide by Reka, German stuff. All bad choice under hot weather or hours of praticing or a combination of both. Drying out fast or drops are runny and the function disappears. -> Trombotine for LT42B and 3B/F, Yamaha 354 and the Olds sisters. A little more effort but it works. Period.

The Trombotine bar will be part of what my daughter will inherit from me. It is only the second one I ever bought - and still almost complete after more than 25 years or so, so I spent exactly 1 bar of Trombotine, the first one from 1973 still holds some cream, which is no longer usable - well, almost....

Word of mouth. Yamaha

I switched from superslick to slide-o-mix on a recommendation by my music teacher a long time ago. The instrument that I play now has a worn out slide with areas of brass on the slide, so I use a bit of trombotine on the stockings as well.

I now use Ultra Pure Alessi formula, thanks to a recommendation and samples provided by John Ohnstad, johnstad here on TC (THANKS JOHN!!) It works very well on my Bach 42 and 50 slides which are 30+ years old. I haven’t used up the two 1/2 oz sample bottles John gave me from 9 months ago.

If you should decide to switch (and I highly encourage it), clean your inner slide well beforehand.

FWIW, I used Trombotine for about 30 years, then a mix of Trombotine with occasional uses of Yamasnot. When cleaning the outer slide, I always found a little greenish residue. It increased when I used Yamasnot alone or with Tromobtine. With the Ultra Pure, there’s much less green stuff.

YMMV

For years now, I have happily used the Yamaha lubricant on all my slides, with one exception. On my 1940's King 2b slide, for whatever reason, it made the slide a bit sluggish and would gum up after one day. I finally decided to try some Superslick that I still had from high school fifty years ago, and with an ample amount of water, the slide was fast again. Go figure!