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Hi:

I'm starting to be able to play a few short tunes on my horn and it sounds pretty good... But those valves..... My downflowing cresendos are punctuated by the 'clank, clank, clank' of my valve set.

The valves are pretty noisy and I know that the standard remedy for this is a set of nylon/Delrin/plastic valve guides. My horn (King 1140) is still in production but are these plastic guides something I can order and install myself or is a custom set going to need to be machined by someone?

Thanks.

Jeff "No there *isn't* pea gravel rumbling in my horn" Benedict

Delrin/nylon guides will be quieter than worn metal guides, but a carefully fitted set of brass tacquets will also be quiet and probably last much longer than nylon or delrin.

While you might be able to fit others yourself (there's no machining involved, just careful shaping by hand), it'd probably be a good idea to have a pro do the job for a couple of reasons.

One reason is that often guides don't wear linearly from top -to-bottom. If that's the case, you'll want them straightened.

Another is that you can probably (depending on the skill of the tech) get better side-to-side alignment of the valve piston and casing.

And finally, it might be a good idea to see if your valves might not benefit from (gasp) a complete refurb. Generally, when guides have worn enough that there's considerable side-do-side play, that's not the only thing that's been worn down.

If you want to try this yourself, brass tacquet blanks can be ordered from Ferree's Tools. The thread on your King tacquets is probably 3-48, unless someone's worked them over before.