How do you clean tube pins?

Voodoo, meaning $150 for a tinny bottle of miracle product that some make money of poor naive souls. No names need to be mentioned. When I said "Steelwood" I was refering to my genius friend who used it and shorted his preamp. Very fine particulars find its way into the tube sucket and it was 4th of July. As to gold plated pins, I believe the whole idea behind it was to.......yes, preserve the perfect connection and prevent the oxidation..........I could be wrong though.

How many times one needs to clean the pins.....come on, give me a break.

Gold is a good conductor and it doesn't oxidize. That's why it's used. And because it can be spread very thin, in the order of a few angstroms, it's not too expensive.

However, even though it doesn't oxidize, it can get grungy with air borne pollutants. That's what the Caig products can clean up for you. However, there is the the danger of putting solutions on the pins and subsequently getting it into places it shouldn't be.

IMO, the best cleaning is simply to insert the tube in and pull it out of the socket a couple of times. The mechanical abrasion will clean off any surface grunge. Quick, easy and cheap.

Markphd, I have found that rotating RCAs slightly each night and doing clockwise on even days and counter clockwise on odd days does wonders. I often forget, however.

When I said "Steelwood" I was refering to my genius friend who used it and shorted his preamp. Very fine particulars find its way into the tube sucket and it was 4th of July

The steel wool is not the problem here don't you think?

Your genius friend, granted that he's a real genius needs to buy or acquire some goddamn common sense.

Think about the question of the original poster, then ask yourself if your response was appropriate. If it is, then suit yourself. I have nothing else to add.

regards,

Abe

The EXACT SAME principal(common sense) applies to the use of contact cleaners and contact enhancers, but neither of them will remove the very thin anti-corrosion plating(gold, nickel, etc) that most tube pins have. Steel wool(no matter how fine), working the tube in and out of the socket or abrasive cleaners will.