What kind of slide lubricant has worked best for you?

For a very ling time I swore up and down that SuperSlick was the best. I tried other things like Slide-O-Mix, and even Pledge, but I just didn't like them as much as SuperSlick.

Unfortunately, like with any cream, unless you clean your horn thoroughly at least once every other week, that stuff builds up on the inside of the outer slide until the point where your slide sticks as it goes into about 2nd, and you really can't get that stuff out.

A few weeks ago I decided it was time to get away from creams. Most people like Slide-O-Mix, but for some reason, I didn't. So I tried this stuff from Germany called REKA Super Slide. It's similar to Slide-O-Mix, but only using one bottle. (Kinda like Slide-O-Mix lite) However, it says you don't even need a spray bottle with it. I bought it and tried it thinking it would work great with water.

I am currently playing in a musical that is 3+ hours long, so I figured this would be the best time to try it. I cleaned out my horn the best I could (a rather new Edwards T-350) and applied the REKA before warming up on the Friday show. Counting warm up, the show, and warm down, that is about 4 hours worth of playing per night. Friday night show, Saturday night show, and Sunday matinee, so about 11-12 hours worth of playing. At the end of Sundays show, I realized I had not reaplied it since that first application Friday night, and I hadn't touched my spray bottle all weekend, and it still felt better and faster than any cream I had ever used.

So, I suggest trying it. However, it seems it will only work if your slide is already in relitively good working order. Older slides need cream to fill in gaps and cracks. But, I would suggest giving it a shot.

Here is the link on WWBW:
http://www.wwbw.com/REKA-Super-Slide-Trombone-Lubricant-i99183.music

after having my slide redone by the Slide Dr, he convinced me to give Superslick another go.. i had been using slide-o-mix for a long time. the one difference this time around was just how little of the superslick he wanted me to use. if you follow his instructions (available on his website at www.slidedr.com) superslick works very well. but you'd be amazed at how much is too much! in this case less is definitely more. now that i use it correctly, i am quite happy with it. that said.. different slides work better with different stuff. on my 3B i still use slide-o- mix because it just works better for that particular slide.

i've tried a few different lubs such as ponds cold cream, superslick, slide-o-mix, Conn slide cream, allora, and currently trombotine. When i first started to play, my band director told me to go to wal-mart and pick up some cold cream, it didn't work well at all. I had some friends in the high school who offered me the use of slide-o-mix, so i cleaned off my slide and applied it and instantly fell in love with it. So a few months later i bought my first horn and it came with the Conn slide cream. Then after looking around and getting advice from the people there, i bought superslick slide cream and slide treatment, which when i got the horn out to practice on later that day i just discarded and used slide o mix. so one day i ran out of slide o mix and was forced to use the superslick, which was much better that slide o mix on my slide. i didn't have to apply it as often as oils, but it still had it down sides, such as it was messy, too much and you had to work with it to get it to be just right. But all and all i like the stuff. so then a few weeks ago i got trombotine cream. I used hardly any of the stuff and it worked almost perfectly. I used it for almost 3 weeks before applying new stuff to it. but then again, thats also considering the fact i wasn't able to practice enough due to dential work and braces, but it works better than anything i have right now. The allora stuff it more of a glue than anything else, it makes your slide sticky.

but like he said, slides are build differently, and arn't always clean, so you have to experment with a few to see which one works best

i dipped mine in a pond where i have rehearsals for brass band, so far that has worked fine, apart from my trom was full of water for about a year after that, and weed...

Thanks for all the input, much obliged. I'll try a pond next time i'm near one.

i borrowed some slide-o-mix from my first chair guy and well, it worked gooood on my trombone lol

Check out that thread:

http://tromboneforum.org/index.php/topic,27683.20.html

I can just agree with the experiences regarding "HEYDAY'S - slide" - the slide action improvement is really incredible and the stuff is absolutely worth the price. I purchased mine from www.slidebone.com.

CU, Frederic