Klarinet Archive - Posting 000513.txt from 2003/03

From: b1rite@-----. Rite)
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinet Pad Question
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 15:25:14 -0500

<><> Vic Brincat wrote:
How do you know when a pad is worn out? Will it be obvious or will it
just start to leak?

Leaks can sneak up on you gradually such that you don't notice them
immediately, but basically you'll hear or feel a change in one or more
notes --- perhaps just a change in the sound character or pitch, perhaps
a fingering is more difficult to sound, or perhaps impossible to sound
at all.

The note that doesn't play (properly) may not be the pad that is
leaking.

'Leak lights' and "pressure testing' are helpful at home for checking,
but the best thing --- budget allowing --- is to have a routine
maintenance once or twice a year. It's not just pads. Other things
such as screws and tenon corks and gunk that a swab doesn't remove and
so forth can all sneak up on you. Several minor misadjustments can add
up to a major malfunction that eludes you because it isn't caused by one
obvious fault.

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