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Quick question, how do I remove these valve guides from the side of the valve, without scratching or messing up the valve itself? I'm assuming they just screw in or screw out, but it's not something I can move with just my fingers, and I hesitate to use metal tool because I know I'm going to scratch the valve.

I finally caved in and will do something about the clank festival of these valves. I was attributed the noise to the felts, but I actually think it's because of the mental valve guides

The face surfaces of most pliers (even regular ol' hillbilly slip-joint "wire pliers") are smooth. Just use pliers, grab, and turn.

In my part of the south (c. a half century ago and earlier - particularly with working class men) regular cheap slip-joint pliers were referred to as "wire pliers", simply because the lower part could (well...sort-of) be used to cut wire. Pliers actually designed to cut wire were called "wire cutters".

My Dad (who grew up in Kansas) and older brother never said, "wire pliers"...and (simply) called cheap pliers - "pliers"...but some dads of kids down the street used that term. (Until I realized that they - simply - meant PLIERS, I thought they were referring to wire cutters.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnolinguistics

Thanks guys. I had a similar piston in the parts bin, and it turns out it's actually soldered in place. I guess people 100 years ago weren't thinking about the need to ever replace them, let alone with plastic valve guides!

Clankfest shall go on! It's really not THAT bad, but I really like it when pistons are quiet. I don't think this leaves many options besides piston surgery, which seems like way more... Everything... than necessary.

MOST soldered-in-place brass valve guides are soldered in place because some dolt in the back of some music store BUSTED that guide off of its threads (tightened it 180 degrees too far).

It's not too hard to un-solder that little rectangle (very little heat required), toss it in the trash, clean the solder residue from the piston, drill out the threads (start the drilling with a punch, don't be clumsy, don't drill through the top valve port, drill smaller than the threads, etc., etc...) and then tap the female threads back out to the typical King/Olds/Reynolds guide (SAE 3-48, yes?) threads or the typical metric (M3) thread size.

It has previously been discussed how to find an appropriate nylon screw and cut its head down to a valve guide.

The thing is that you HAVE a tuba...If you feel trepidation, you might wait until you've thought about it enough...and/or until you have at least two taps (one and a back-up), a bag of nylon screws, and a good spring punch with a sharp tip.

Every time I've altered Fat Bastard (or done most any precise little operation on any instrument that mattered), I've felt a bit of that...It's only natural.

oh yeah...
DON'T FORGET TO WEAR A MASK, SAFETY GOGGLES, HEAT-RESISTANT GLOVES, A HELMET, WORK IN A WELL-VENTILATED AREA, HAVE A PROPERLY RATED FIRE EXTINGUISHER NEARBY, AND FOLLOW ALL OSHA SAFETY REG'S AND - IF YOU HAVEN'T - TAKE AN OSHA SAFETY TRAINING COURSE.

bloke wrote: ↑Tue May 02, 2023 8:00 pm Just use pliers, grab, and turn.

He makes it sound so easy…

bloke wrote: ↑Tue May 02, 2023 10:06 pm It's not too hard...

Which means to me "it won't be too expensive to pay someone to do it for me."

But really, thanks for the info... I'm not sure I feel bold enough to try, given my general success rate with precision projects... but I'm glad to know that it CAN be done.

The set of 60 Harbor Freight wire gauge drill bits is sh!tty, but it's pretty cheap and drilling out small threads is easier if you have graduated drill bits in these really small sizes.