How big of a dent will affect the trombone?

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buzzedmouthpiece
Posts: 4
Joined: Oct 13, 2024

by buzzedmouthpiece »

Hello,

I have a dent in the tuning slide of my trombone and was wondering how big of a dent will affect the trombone, like in the sound coming out, or anything else. When I play, sometimes, I can hear a separate noise like a vibration near the tuning slide area of the trombone.

Thanks.
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BGuttman
Posts: 7368
Joined: Mar 22, 2018

by BGuttman »

A small dent is unsightly but won't make much difference. You can still play on one nearly crushed flat, but I wouldn't recommend it.

My rule of thumb is that anything that reduces the diameter by around 30% should be taken care of.
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harrisonreed
Posts: 6479
Joined: Aug 17, 2018

by harrisonreed »

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Don't worry about it
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afugate
Posts: 671
Joined: Mar 23, 2018

by afugate »

[quote="buzzedmouthpiece"]Hello,

I have a dent in the tuning slide of my trombone and was wondering how big of a dent will affect the trombone, like in the sound coming out, or anything else. When I play, sometimes, I can hear a separate noise like a vibration near the tuning slide area of the trombone.



Thanks.[/quote]

This sounds more like a loose solder joint.

--Andy in OKC
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imsevimse
Posts: 1765
Joined: Apr 29, 2018

by imsevimse »

Hi!

I have discovered it matters where the dent is. Most dents do not affect intonation so I can feel or hear a difference. I had a big dent in the bell section just after the receiver that wasn't very deep but it was big enough to destroy my middle F. When I removed that dent the intonation of the F changed. I have some tools so I like to remove all dents.

/Tom