So, in order for this to look spiffy, I need to remove the lettering from the PVC pipe. I tried a bunch of solvents, and Laquer Thinner seemed to be the best.

I tried grinding the letters off, with some success, but it was hard to do it in a way that didn't accidentally leave deep pits in the pipe.

I've obtained a prodigious amount of lacquer thinner and a bit of roof gutter to dip the pipes in, so I'll update this as soon as I get around to that... I decided that dipping was the best because when I tried to rub it off with paper towels it seemed ineffective unless the surface was soaked with thinner first. So I might as well dunk the thing and then it will be easy, right? I just hope it doesn't do anything bad to the structural integrity of the PVC...