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This might sound weird but here goes. I have a YEB-321 and oily spit drips from the bottom of the valve casings after I've been playing awhile. Needless to say it gets all over the horn, clothes, carpet, etc. I've tried finding one of those plastic "grime gutters" like by Jo-Ral or Bach but there don't seem to be any for 4-valve tubas. I've tried creating my own from all sorts of stuff from Home Depot's plumbing dept and just about every other dept as well. I'm thinking of buying 2 (I've seen a listing for one that says it fits 3-valve euphs and tubas) and cutting them apart and crazy gluing them together. Has anyone else had this issue and have you found found a solution? Thanks for any ideas.

You are going to have to make them yourself or have them custom made for you. Most grime gutters have something to attach to on the bottom valve cap, the Yamaha has a recessed hold with nothing to hook on to.

A friend soldered short brass tubing into the bottom valve cap on his horn and then added a peice of clear plastic tubing as the gutter. Looked bad but it worked.

If you send it to any of the fine repairmen on this board, they could put somethng together for you that would look good.

Your choice of action depends on how important the cosmetics are to you.

UK players often seem to have a rolled up small towel, or duster wedged between the pipes under the valves to catch the drips. That is the most effective solution! Gutters soon fill up and then deposit horrible dirt water whenever the tuba is turned over onto its bell.

Jonathan "who now remembers how he hated getting wet trousers (pants) from dripping top valves"

You could take a piece of something like 1 1/4" diameter piece of vinyl tubing about 6" long... split it length-wise and sort of snap it over the bottoms of the casings. Use it to hold some gauze pads against the bottom of the casings. Throw away the pads after a performance. Not pretty. But... cheap and effective.

See this discussion thread from a few years ago on Dave Werden's forum. There are a couple of suggested solutions... albeit for euph, but two of them were for the YEP-321 model which is 4 valves that curve. This might help.

Grime Gutter for YEP 321

BTW, I call mine a 'drool drainer'

"Condensation Collector."

iiipopes wrote:"Condensation Collector."

I have been trying to convince my wife it is condensation and not spit - so far without success

Same wifey problem finally got fixed a couple of years ago. I noticed her blowing on her glasses, fogging them up and then wiping them with her shirtail to clean them. I jokingly ask her why she was spitting on her glasses? She took the bait, hook, line and sinker. After about a 5 minute discourse from her on why it wasn't spit but condensation, I simply stated, "You said it better than I could." Winning is so much fun!

TubaTinker wrote:You could take a piece of something like 1 1/4" diameter piece of vinyl tubing about 6" long... split it length-wise and sort of snap it over the bottoms of the casings. Use it to hold some gauze pads against the bottom of the casings. Throw away the pads after a performance. Not pretty. But... cheap and effective.

Perfect.

tbn.al wrote:Same wifey problem finally got fixed a couple of years ago. I noticed her blowing on her glasses, fogging them up and then wiping them with her shirtail to clean them. I jokingly ask her why she was spitting on her glasses? She took the bait, hook, line and sinker. After about a 5 minute discourse from her on why it wasn't spit but condensation, I simply stated, "You said it better than I could." Winning is so much fun!

I hate to break this to you, but you did not win. Wives never lose, even when it appears they have. I assure you. You have lost.

tbn.al wrote:Same wifey problem finally got fixed a couple of years ago. I noticed her blowing on her glasses, fogging them up and then wiping them with her shirtail to clean them. I jokingly ask her why she was spitting on her glasses? She took the bait, hook, line and sinker. After about a 5 minute discourse from her on why it wasn't spit but condensation, I simply stated, "You said it better than I could." Winning is so much fun!

Yeah, but somewhere, somehow, you're gonna pay for that victory.