Klarinet Archive - Posting 000157.txt from 2011/08

From: "Keith Bowen" <keith.bowen@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Rant against a trend in pad work
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:15:04 -0400

Hi Clark,

Thanks for your very interesting post. I do have quite a lot of experience
as a user of synthetic-padded clarinets and a little as a repairer/restorer
(though in no way comparable with your repair experience).

As you know, I have owned a Steve Fox basset horn for about seven years, and
more recently bought Dan Leeson's. You've played these instruments (when we
got your mouthpieces) and said (on this list) of mine at the time that it
was the finest basset horn you had played. I also have had an Eb clarinet of
Steve's, for eight years. These use Valentino pads exclusively except for
the largest-size holes on the basset horn, which were not then available in
Valentino. Valentinos do of course have a stiff backing, intended to stop
the creep that you mention and also to stop the material heating excessively
during mounting. The performance and reliability has been excellent.

I also had my bass clarinet overhauled recently by Wolfgang Lohff
(http://www.woodwindexpert.com/frontenglish.html), a leading European
clarinet expert, decidedly artist-quality. He uses a semi-stiff black vinyl
material, with a thin metal backing. Sealing is remarkable and the
instrument plays extremely well. He mounts ball-bearing joints into the long
rods, which ensures accurate location for the pads even if the wood expands
or contracts (the bearing fixes the end of the rod at a point very close to
the pad).

I recently overhauled/rebuilt a 1970 Clemens Meinel clarinet, which was
originally an excellent make, but had seen hard use and needed a lot of
work. As an experiment, I used the newer Valentino Master pads on this.
These are a little harder than regular Valentinos, but also have a thin card
backing. The final job sealed and played very well. I certainly agree with
your comment on zero play in the mechanism - the F/C and E/B adjustment was
unstable until I spotted and took up a tiny amount of play - but I regard
this as a necessity in a professional level instrument anyway. The pads
needed just as careful alignment and floating as any leather or skin pad, in
order to get a good G/D - E/B legato (by my standards - you are a much
better player than I!). Certainly, the tone hole quality needed to be
excellent, and tone hole edges with tiny chips in them had to be built up. I
think when I rebuild the accompanying A clarinet, I will use conventional
Valentinos, which do have a little 'give'. The Masters are nearer cork pads
in their hardness, though not as hard as cork.

A reason that I use this scheme is the idea that an ideal pad should be a
good acoustic match to the wood of the bore (i.e. hard) but soft enough to
seal well and not slap loudly when closed. I also have leather padded
clarinets (Wurlitzers) which are of course excellent, but I don't think they
are intrinsically better than Steve Fox's products.

So .. does your rant really apply to all synthetic pads on all artist-level
clarinets?

Keith Bowen

-----Original Message-----
From: Clark Fobes [mailto:claroneman@-----.net]
Sent: 18 August 2011 17:40
To: klarinet@-----.com
Subject: [kl] Rant against a trend in pad work

I so rarely post to the Klarinet any more, but I have been seeing a
disturbing trend in clarinet repair that I want to address. This is the use
of synthetic pads for ALL pads on the clarinet.

I want to say first that I am not against the use of synthetic pads
entirely- they have a use, particularly in the upper joint pads of the bass
clarinet. They are probably a good idea for student instruments that
receive a lot of abuse. But for professional level clarinets I only use them
in two places: the Ab/Eb pad on the lower joint and the F# ring key pad on
the upper joint (opens over the throat G tone hole). Synthetic pads are not
a good choice for pads that are sprung open.

Here are several reasons. Once synthetic pads are seated they have almost no
give at all. In the case of the long E/B of the lower joint, this can cause
leaks unless the mechanism has absolutely no play and the F/C and E/B pads
are in perfect synch. Because synthetic pads have almost no "give" or
"cushion" they slap the tone hole and it is virtually impossible to make a
good legato when slurring from G/D to E/B. The very crisp edge of the pads
create turbulence and noise unless the pad is adjusted very high from the
tone hole, which changes the pitch (towards sharpness) and creates too much
distance for facile playing. And finally, most of the synthetic pads I have
seen do not have a stiff backing, consequently the pad cup must be filled
with glue completely (that technique seems to escape most repair men) other
wise the synthetic pad will eventually creep up into any gaps in the glue
and will eventually leak.

A good pad job should be quiet, have a soft feel and look CLEAN.

I understand the trend. Synthetic pads are much easier to install than
traditional pads and do not require the skill or the sensitivity required to
"float" a skin or leather pad and the job can be done faster.

I am distressed at the lack of artist level repair work in general. I hope
that players will start looking more carefully at the work they are paying
for and demand a higher standard.

Clark W Fobes
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