It's my son's trumpet and this isn't the first time it's happened. Last time the teacher did it for him but this means carrying the trumpet into school in a plastic bag! Any ideas. And how do we stop it from happening again.
Thanks for any help.
Jude

I'm no trumpet player, but often when instruments get stuck together its because it has expanded.
For example, wooden clarinets can get stuck together because the wood expands when the temperature changes.
And when my friend dropped her oboe reed in her bottle of water it got stuck on her oboe becasue the cork at the bottom of the reed expanded as there was water in it.
So maybe this applies to trumpets???

Music shops often have a special device for carefully pulling the mouthpiece out of a trumpet and will do it for you. The fact that someone has designed such a thing implies that it happens a lot!

WD 40. It worked when my son got his stuck many years ago, or is that too brutal ?

Don't know if you ever do this, but never leave the motuhpiece in the trumpet, this is a sure way to get it stuck. Also when you put it into the hole/slot, dont knock it in, just sort of place it in. As someone has mentioned above me, shops sell mouthpiece extractors, these are fantastic. Only problem is they cost a fortune.......I've seen them being sold at £60!!!!!!

Final method.....you know those rubber things used for getting lids of jam jars and the like? If you have one then wrap it around the mouthpiece....get a nice strong person to twist it round, and hopefully it will come out. This method has saved me more than a few times!!!!!!


Good Luck

Thanks for replies. I've tried leaving it in cold conservatory but no different. Have been searching for rubber gloves all day but to no avail. Have wrapped some elastic bands round but also no good
WD40 ..... would love to give it a try - are you sure it won't damage the lacquer?
Otherwise it's off to the music shop ...
Any tips for preventing it happening? We don't leave it in at all as trumpet goes back in case every time.
Jude

I know it sounds stupid/simple but don't hit the mouthpiece when it's in the trumpet, as it gradually works it further into the trumpet and it can get stuck. Sounds simple, but loads of people do it!

WD40 is a good idea. Next step is to cool the mouthpiece with ice and heat the leadpipe with hot water.

Never leaving the mouthpiece in is good advice.

-- "Next step is to cool the mouthpiece with ice and heat the leadpipe with hot water." --

I've used the same technique for an old clarinet. It worked very well.

However, the hot water is messy, so best to put narrow strips of cloth, kitchenroll etc in the freezer/oven etc and wrap them around the metal. The cold will make the MP contract, the lead pipe will expand.

Every instrument is different so perhaps putting a little oil on the MP tube will help in the future.

Steve

Never thought of that......perhaps a touch of valve oil would help?????

*If possible don't go down the music shop. The mouthpiece removers cost a fortune and it isnt really worth it unless this is a common occurence*

What about the same oil you use for the keys?

If you've tried the hot/cold suggestion without success I really advise that you phone your local music shop and check whether they have a mouthpiece remover and if so, how much they will charge to remove the mouthpiece for you. My local shop asks for a donation to charity so it doesn't have to be mega expensive. Either that or wait for the teacher to remove it at his next lesson.

I've seen some very very expensive damage done to the lead pipe caused by well meaning parents who tried to remove the mouthpiece on their own.

I'm just about to start work now and have briefly scan all the replies. I know answer to both why and how etc. as I have a son who is a trumpeter, will answer more fully this afternoon.

Don't try anything yourself it will damage the lead pipe!! and won't work.

Depends how far it's stuck in, but try giving the lead pipe a little tap with something not too hard - firm enough to release the mouthpiece, but not strong enough to dent. this usually works.

Sorry it's taken so long to reply been a very busy day!!

When my son first got his mouthpiece stuck we tried everything, nothing worked we tried all the suggestions that have been mentioned so far. Our local music shop extracts the mouthpieces with an extractor. I used to think that the mouth piece was forced in too far but that really wasn't true. The mouthpiece has been stuck too many times to count now and we looked into investing an extractor. The cheapest we found was £35.

During this time we learnt that if you forced the mouthpiece out with any other devices by using some of the methods mention above it would strain the lead pipe. The last time it got stuck it took 35 mins with an extractor to remove!

After an informative discussion with the brass repairer he told me there were some common ways mouthpieces got stuck.
1. Some makes are more prone to this by design(our trumpet was an Amanti)
2. When dirty accumulates inside the tubing from bad cleaning, this jams when the mouthpiece is pushed up against it. One solution.... don't push the mouthpiece into the tubing(or tap in) but twist the mouthpiece into the tube and then untwist to remove. This worked for a while for us, until I had enough of my regular trip to get someone to remove it. In the end we bought him a new trumpet Yamaha 4335, he has never got the mouthpiece stuck on this trumpet.

Guess what trumpet he's got - a Yamaha 4335! Mouthpiece still stuck - have tried WD40 and the hot/cold method. Lesson tomorrow - will have to go to school in a plastic bag.

The 4335 has a bubbly bit at the top to try and prevent the mouthpiece jamming, oh dear doubt if the teacher can extract it unless he carried an extractor or teacher doesn't own one.

Good luck

DONT DO IT YOURSELF!

Take it to a shop, or a dealer, or a repair specialist, pay them, and save yourself alot of money. Or find someone who has a mouthpeice remover, they won't damage the instrument, any other method is very likely to end in tears.

I hope you solve the problem soon!

There is the rather unorthadox door method. Trap the trumpet mouthpeice between the door and the frame (near the hinge) and pull while twisting... the only problem of this is that i know someone who broke a trumept this way before!
To prevent it in future DONT NOT EVER under any circumstances hit the mouthpeice to stop it falling out the trumpet put it in normally and twist slightly to remove twist in the opposite direction.

Lisa

Get a mouthpiece puller like this one.

Ok this may sound sacreligious and what not, I got my horn mouthpiece stuck a few weeks ago, tried everything from ice and hot water to oils and wd40 all to no avail.

I showed a friend who is a tuba player who proceeded to tap it downwards (away from instrument) with his much larger mouthpiece, a few light taps and it fell straight out, no damage done!

My cousin who is a brass teacher in Herts also suggested the door method

The good old door method lol