Posted by js on May 14, 2003 at 00:22:48:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Plateless Valves? Also....Besson H? posted by Steven on May 14, 2003 at 00:02:31:
Sometimes instruments still play OK with leaky valves, but its certainly not a factor that contributes to those positive characteristics.
Really badly worn pistons are often accompanied by worn casings. To rebuild BOTH the pistons and the casings requires unsoldering the valve section from the tuba, and with "top-action" valves, even more unsoldering is required.
Simply having pistons plated with nickel and having them trued back to the original dimension is less costly. This less expensive job is only recommended for instruments with casings that have experienced negligible wear.