TromboneChat

I just got a new pixie mute from humes and berg (it’s the black or precious metal pixie) and I heard you can make it better if you take the stem out but I’m scared of ruining it so does anyone have a step by step guide as to how to remove the stem?

It doesn't make a huge difference... slightly freer blowing but less slotted/focused. Personally I probably wouldn't bother to do it again.

The instructions in the Al Grey book (knocking the stem in with a hammer and screwdriver, then attempting to crimp the edge and pull it out with pliers) are unnecessarily crude and cause damage. There's a better way; by knocking the stem out from the inside, you don't damage either part. On mine, I slightly buffed down the stem and now it can be removed or replaced smoothly like a Harmon stem. (Not important but, having retained both parts, why not?)

Take the largest washer that will still fit through the pixie stem and sandwich it slightly eccentrically between nuts on the end of a thinner threaded rod (a 5/8" OD 5/16" ID washer on 1/4" rod, or a 16mm OD M8 ID washer on M6 rod). Clamp the other end of the rod in a vise with a V-block, then insert the washer arrangement into the mute and use the "shelf" to knock the stem out from the inside with short, sharp pulling motions, rotating between impacts.

On mine it made a huge difference actually. Intonation is a lot harder with removing the stem, but the sound is so much better that it's entirely worth it to figure out those new tendencies and pulling out the tuning slide far for getting it in tune.

Funny, I took the stem out of mine and also thought it made a huge difference. The sound is vastly improved, it actually sounds how a pixie should sound but easier to play than the various trumpet straight mutes that I also use.

I did it ala the Al Grey method previously discussed above and it was...messy. Good luck!