Klarinet Archive - Posting 001416.txt from 1999/01

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] How to pad along for a bit
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 17:55:12 -0500

On Thu, 28 Jan 1999 15:18:32 -0700, rbushidioglot@-----.net said:

> My only reservation would be that some will "live" with these
> emergency measures in place and not have them taken care of in a
> timely manner. I have seen, too many times, such repairs done, either
> by the player or by a well meaning band director, and the repair is
> left in this questionable state only to fail at an inopportune time a
> little further down the road.

Yeah, and it looks inelegant, too, doesn't it?

It does makes me wonder, though, about the philosophy behind our choice
of material for such things. That philosophy surely depends very much
on the detailed behaviour of the particular material. BluTak/Clingfilm
pads are quite robust, in their way, if carefully made and fitted (but
see footnote). And the fact that they alter slightly over their
lifespan is no real disadvantage: in fact in some ways it works in their
favour. And I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to improve on them,
keeping the same basic idea.

One time wear-and-throwaway contact lenses are becoming more common.
Could we imagine cheap quick-change self-adjusting pads on our
instruments that we replaced ourselves, say, once a month?

Might they actually be more efficient?

Just an idea. I know it's probably not the right sort of thing to
suggest to a repairman.

(footnote: I say this, but I haven't carried out exhaustive tests. For
example, in really low temperatures they might behave like the famous
Challenger O-rings. So to be really sure, I'd have to check that out
like a latter-day Feynman, for the benefit of the marching bands:-)

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

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