I have a 40 year old Holton Bb trumpet. It plays fine except the first valve always gets stuck when I play it, in the middle of a song it won't come back up. I can pull it back up and it doesn't get stuck real bad, but how can I fix this? I always oil it properly and insert the valves right. Do I have to replace it? Thanks
You need not replace the valve, but it does need a bit of attention. There are many possible reasons for the sticking and you can spend a long time trying to chase them down. Inconsistent sticking suggests 2 likely reasons (there are several more possible reasons). The first is piston wear that has slightly misshapen the valve casing so it sticks because it doesn't travel through the valve casing exactly the same way every time. The second is that the felts and corks are worn and need to be replaced. The best thing for you to do is to take it to a shop, describe the problem and spend a few bucks to get it fixed right.
