I want to replace the wooden thumb rest on my attachment lever. It's really on there tight, so I was wondering if there were any "techniques" that you have used, short of cutting it off, that have worked.. Thanks

I'll try some things on mine in the next few weeks and let you know what works. There are a few beautiful (already turned to size/shape) purple heartwood levers on my bench waiting to go on some horns. :-)

I believe it's press-fit on. The best way might be to use a slide-hammer.

Your replacement should have a hole drilled a little bit (1/32") smaller than the rod it fits on and would be installed with a small wooden mallet.

The way we used to put new hand grips on the handlebars of a motorcycle was to spray the tubing part of the handlebars with hairspray and then IMMEDIATELY hammer the new handgrips on with a block of wood. While it was wet, the hairspray acted as a lubricant and once it had dried it acted as a glue. Perhaps the same basic technique would work with a trombone thumb rest ? We did have to remove the old handgrips by cutting them off, but what the Hell, they were "shot" anyway. To all the bikers on TC ---- "Keep the shiny side UP" ! Cheers !! Bob

Re. the post from 2bobone; the way I always stuck rubber hand grips onto my bikes was to use a little water with ordinary hand soap to lubricate the inside of the grip, then twist it on. If it still felt a bit loose, I'd pull it off, wipe some of the mix off and try again, and keep doing that until it just pushed all the way on with vigourous twisting. Leave it overnight, and by the following morning, they were rock solid. When they wore out and needed replacement, I just slid the blade of a very thin screwdriver under the edge of the grip, squirted some water in and started twisting it to and fro, so the water gradually worked its way up the grip until I could slide it off.

Re. soap; a boatbuilder told me that, particularly when he was putting brass screws into hard timber, he used to scrape them over an ordinary bar of hand soap before screwing them in. He said the soap eased the screw going in, so it wouldn't shear off under the torque needed, but the screws never worked loose - even in a situation where the fixing was subjected to a lot of wracking as the boat went through a rough sea.

HTH,

Jack

[quote="BGuttman"]I believe it's press-fit on. The best way might be to use a slide-hammer.

Your replacement should have a hole drilled a little bit (1/32") smaller than the rod it fits on and would be installed with a small wooden mallet.[/quote]

Depends what its made out of. I make them out of brass and drill the exact size, then solder it on.