Klarinet Archive - Posting 000724.txt from 1999/08

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Leather clarinet pads
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 19:46:00 -0400

Barb073@-----.com wrote:

> I recently encountered an older Noblet clarinet that had been freshly
> overhauled and repadded with leather pads. I played on it, and found it to
> be rather resistant and stuffy. Other Noblets I have tried have not been
> that way at all.
>
> Would this resistance and stuffiness be due to the leather pads themselves or
> the way they were put in? Is it common to use nothing but leather pads
> during a repad job? Inquiring minds are curious..........
>
> Barb Levy
> barb073@-----.com
>

I have encountered clarinets that were padded with leather pads. They were in
need of work so I have never played one in good working order with leather pads.
Don't really know how they might effect response and tone quality.

There must be a reason why most all soprano clarinets are padded with the
conventional goldbeater skinned pads. Cork padding for most of the upper joint
in clarinets is quite common, too. The way they don't dampen the vibrating air
column and the way they seem to reflect the air does change their playing
characteristics. I have also used Valentino pads. They can produce an extremely
tight seal and they are long lived. Getting them to seat properly on the four
largest key cups at the bottom of the lower joint is difficult.

I would suspect that the stuffiness has more to do with the pads being too full
or thick in the pad cups. The instrument is probably not breathing properly.

We all know that it is common for larger harmony clarinets to have leather pads.
In fact, the Bundy bass and contra-alto clarinets have the keywork and pad cups
designed specifically so that standard saxophone pads can be used.

On the other hand, Vito bass clarinets normally come with large goldbeater skin
pads. They are terrible. They often make tacky sounds, swell in the centers and
distort in shape, and are not very durable. They charge extra for leather
padding. (Bean counters make all the decisions at Leblanc.)

Leather pads vary a great deal in their porosity. Work arounds are to dope them
with Tandy Leather's Carnuba cream, or any number of commercial products
specifically designed to waterproof and seal the pad surfaces, such as "Pad
Life." While a pad may be well installed and have a good seal around the tone
hole edges, migrational leakage into the center of the pad and then through the
interior of the pad to the outside edges is always a potential problem and can
substantially reduce the efficiency of the machinery.

There is always a debate going on somewhere amongst repairmen as to whether a
certain amount of "controlled" leakage is a desirable. Some people feel that an
hermetically, drum tight pad job might not be a good thing. Controlling the
"controlled leakage" is quite another issue. Just how would this be built into
the pad job?

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