loose tubes

In another vein, slightly lifting tubes changes the point of contact on the pins -- so, maybe better contact? You'll notice that the pins have small indentations at the point of contact with the base -- I used to sand the pins with very fine paper in order to clean the contact.

Did the same, Greg, never heard a difference, but continued to do so all the same at every tube roll...one never knows ..( perhaps I'm a compulsion neurotic after all )Cheers,

LOL, Detlof; I never noticed a difference either -- but I kept it up, religiously!!!

Am I neurotic?

Is there a place that carries those teflon sockets pictured above? The Japanese page didn't really have much to offer in that regard... looking for a dealer in the US if possible.. I have a friend who is interested who does a lot of DIY components.

I have used the type of sand paper that is made of (mounted on) cloth (can't think of the name of it and it's used for polishing) with good results. It has gotten rid of the start up "rustle" on some old signal tubes. I am leary of using it on plated pins though as I went through the gold on one once. I lost my sheet so have to replace it to clean up a couple batches of NOS tubes that I have since received. I now use Kontak on all the tube sockets and pins and the grunge that it lifts (that alcohal did not get rid of) is visible as the results are audible. This is the first place that I tried it out and the improvement motivated me to clean the rest of the connections in the system.