Thanks, bloke
That's good info to have. I'll have to look at that brace to see what you mean. I bought that horn in 1982.

Greetings.
I have a couple old Miraphone tubas: a CC186 5U and a Eb183 5U. They both have red rot on the leadpipes. I contacted Miraphone and they gave me part numbers for Nickel-Silver leadpipes: CC 003612200004 Eb 0036122000010

In addition, I want to improve the 5th valve pivot on the CC 186 ...