My baritone is somewhat new, the first valve isn't going down, I've tried nearly everything and I want to avoid taking school instrument to a music store to repair.
I have played for over 30 years and have a few to many horns. But I love to play. Sounds like its time for a bath. Take your horn to the bath tub. Fill the tub with warm water and a little DAWN dish soap. Lisen to me and buy DAWN, not something else. Palmolive tasts nasty, and the others do not cut the grease on the horn. Gently take out the valves and all slides. Lay them on an old towel. Lay the horn in the tub on an old towel so you dont scratch the tub. Let it soak. While the body soaks. Wash the valves. The valve might unscrew off the top stem. This would be great because you do not want to get the felt or corks wet. Be very gentle and careful, use an old white sock to scrub the old oil off the valve. Now that the valves are washed, rinse the valves with clean water. Now, take the old white sock that you just used and twist it. Then you can feed this into the valve case on your horn. Pull it through each of the three valves a few times. If you are realy good to your horn, you may even buy a snake made for cleaning trombones and baritones and run it through every pipe on the horn. Now rinse and dry everything. There should be no oil or grease left on the horn or the slides. If you find any go back and wash it off. First grease up the slides with slide grease or lanolin. Then oil (not grease) the valves with a good quality valve oil such as Blue Juice, Holton or Al Cass. Use just a few drops of oil on each valve. You place 2 (Two) drops on at a time and gently slide the valve into the horn. Spin and with any luck it will play like a dream. Now, you need to stop eating before you play. And never oil the valves through the hole in the bottom, that is where all the dirt is going. If you must, oil through the leadpipe. I remove the valves after I play and oil them. They are always ready to play this way.
If valve oil alone isn't working, try flushing out the valve casing with warm (not hot) water. Likewise, rinse off the valve itself. Once they're dry, apply a fresh coat of oil and try again. Also be sure that you have the valve aligned properly. Now if the valve still doesn't work, then it may be time to bring it in to the shop.
Obviously there is something wrong with the first valve. Take out the entire first valve and pick it apart is all I can say even after 4 years of playing one. More than likely the first valve is not put on straight or just needs to be greased.
