Hi all,

I have a Bach slide from the 40s that I want to remove the over-sleeves from (I prefer lightweight slides).

I told my tech about the project and he’s unsure he wants to attempt this as over-sleeves from a very old slide might be difficult to come off or might be stuck on. I’m curious to know why over-sleeves on an older slide might be harder to remove? Do any repair techs have solutions or advice to removing them? Especially if they turn out to be stubborn?

Thanks

Terrible idea on something that old... solder changes over time, voids where solder penetration wasn't 100% will have oxidized and fused, probably some intergranular corrosion processes...

Even if it did work, you'll have worse action than you would from fresh tubes, given that there's distortion from the original soldering plus whatever level of heat and force was involved in removing them.

You like the leadpipe? Given that all the parts you need are available (M/K etc), just have a new sleeveless outer built for that inner. You'll have a better slide action, and you won't have wrecked some perfectly usable 80 year old parts for an experiment with uncertain outcomes.

The previous post by ithinknot was very well-written and I agree with it 100%. Just have a new outer slide constructed and you will: 1. Preserve the historical slide. 2. Have a lightweight slide that will probably perform better.

Back in the late 1990s, I removed the nickel sleeves from a few 1950s Conn slides (one 6H and three 88Hs). Thinking that I had perfected the skill, I continued to take requests to remove sleeves from older Conn and Bach slides. My rate of success went down in the next several horns and I ended up doing some damage to a few slide tubes. It is all because of the corrosion that can accumulate between the two tubes. The corrosion can create a bond between the metals that is stronger than the solder. Now, I usually avoid moving or removing slide sleeves on older instruments.

It sounds like you have a collector’s grade Bach instrument. If you wish to change your set-up to a lighter slide, I recommend that you have an outer slide or an entire slide constructed to your desired specifications and allow the historical slide to remain intact.

I successfully removed outer sleeves from a turn of the century German trombone. It didn’t ruin the slide action, but the sockets being silver soldered on allowed me to get a good enough grip to remove them.

But sometimes old horns don’t want to come apart, so it’s possible it was partially luck. If the horn is really valuable, like a 34,36,42,45, or 50 I would recommend not altering it.