How to Wash a Trumpet

Cleaning your trumpet is very important, and should be done every month. When you play your horn, food is being blown inside of it, and creating build-up and giving bacteria a place to grow. This makes a very stuffy and fuzzy sound, and is just gross in general. So make sure to follow these steps to make sure you clean your trumpet well, so you get all the gunk out.


Step:

1. Fill your bath tub with warm water and soap.
2. Lay out a towel on the bottom of the bath tub, under the water to avoid scratching.
3. Take off the mouthpiece and set it aside.
4. Now you will want to flush out your trumpet, by turning on the faucet and running warm water down the bell, this will get lose particles out, and make the lead tubing easier to clean with the snake later.
5. Take out all of the slides, and put them in the bathtub with your trumpet.
6. Now take out all 3 valves. You must MAKE SURE to remember the order of your valves if they don't have numbers on them. This is VERY important, so check to see if all of the valves have numbers on them saying 1,2, and 3 before mixing them up. Now some of the valves might have S1, S2 and S3 written on them so please keep then in order. If they don't, just set them aside (IN ORDER).
7. Put your trumpet in the tub, add some more soap to the water, and let it sit for 5- 10 minutes.
8. While your trumpet is setting in the water, take your mouth piece and run some VERY hot water through it with some soap. Take a washcloth and clean the mouthpiece out with some soap. Also, if you own a Mouth piece brush, you should run it through your mouthpiece to get all the gunk out of inside of it.
9. Let mouthpiece sit in hot water after.
10. Go back to your trumpet, and run the snake through all of the slides, and through the inside of your trumpet.
11. Now, take one valve, and dip it in the water. Do not put the top part of the valve in the water because of the felt at the top can get ruined. Run your mouthpiece brush through all of the 3 holes in the valve, making sure to get all buildup out. Repeat with other valves.
12. Take a washcloth and soap and wash the outside of the trumpet, and other areas you think you missed. Make sure to clean the inside of the bell.
13. Start putting your trumpet back together, Take a piece out of the water one by one, and set them on a towel, then dry them off with a washcloth.
14. Take your Slide Grease and grease all of the slides to make sure they do not stick, then put them back into the trumpet slides.
15. Dry off your valves, and then take your valve oil, and use it the oil the valves. MAKE SURE TO PUT THEM BACK IN THE CORRECT PLACE.
16. Once all slides and valves are back in place, take your washcloth to dry it off one last time, and empty your spit valve of all the spare water inside.
17. Take your polishing cloth, and go over your trumpet with it. This will make it look cleaner and shinier.
18. Last, Take your mouthpiece out of the water, dry it off, put it in your trumpet, and then you're ready to play! :)