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Hello all- I bought ceramic 9 pin sockets for the ST-35 rev D board at Triode electronics. The question- are the sockets supposed to fit flush against the board? The ones that I bought do not- there is a shoulder on the pins that is larger in diameter than the holes in the board, and there is at least 2-3 mm gap between the socket and board.
Thanks
Jim

All of the ceramic 9 pin sockets I have ever used were the same way.
I have never seen any fit flush yet. A trick with those sockets is to solder only two pins opposite each other and check to see if the socket is even with the PCB and the tube will sit straight upright. If it isn't then its relatively simple to resolder one pin or the other , realign and then solder the remaining pins. If you solder ALL the pins without checking and then find that the socket is askew it is a royal PITA to fix and requires about 16 inches of desoldering braid and many mumbled curses and oaths.

thanks mesherm- good tip about soldering just 2 pins!
jim

Make sure that the little tabs on the tube sockets are in the the holes as far as they go. There should be a little shoulder on each of the 9 pins, this way when you put your vacuum tubes into them later the solder won't break away from the pcb. I learned this the hard way There is a gap under the socket's like that to keep the heat away from the pcb which is a good thing. Good luck on your build.

thanks k-man!