Quote:
Originally Posted by pataburd  Use a latex glove to avoid skin contact with the glass envelope. Skin oils on the glass reportedly cause "hot spots" when the tube reheats and brittleness at the point(s) of skin/glass contact.
To remove the tubes, grasping the tube around the base, I pull up while gently wiggling the tube base back and forth. This breaks up the contact friction a little at a time and avoids a violent break away from the socket.
I use an old, stiff bristle toothbrush lightly dampened with cleaning solution to initially scrub/clean the tube pins, then a swab.
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The hot spots myth is nonsense. I know a guy we call OT "Old Timer". He has a radio that has had the same tubes in the amp for 25+ years. When you look at the radios tubes they look greasy. I said once, those tubes look like you put them in after you had some fried chicken. He said, " I did".
These guys laugh when they hear people use gloves to remove tubes and make lots of entertaining comments about what type of men use gloves to handle tubes. After hearing those comments I have I never used anything but my fingers again. Matt Ankers dad (Sacdmods) gets a kick out of this claim too. All these people have worked on tube equipment for decades.
Secondly, you should be very careful wiggling the tube back and forth when removing a tube or you will damage the tube socket .... especially with octals and porcelin tube sockets. Some people also dont have any idea of what gently means. I know this from watching people change tubes at meets.
