 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: wjk
Date: 2003-01-29 17:09
what are the plus/minuses of installing pads such as Staubinger or Shusta pads? How do resonators help (do they?) tone and projection?Thanks!
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2003-01-29 19:00
Resonators are kinda like putting Slick 50 in your engine oil --- if you truly believe they improve the sound, then no amount of objective evidence (or lack thereof) will shake your belief. If they make you think you sound better, then use them and be happy. If you're looking for any sort of well-researched scientific proof, then you're wasting your time.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2003-01-29 19:18
Hi, WJK
Please allow me to preface my response by stating that I don't know about the pads you refer to. I do, however, know a bit about hard clarinet pads and resonator pads. I also have an opinion or two from some experience as a player and as a 'fixer'. Resonator pads are great for saxes, especially those huge beasts with big tone holes that need lots of pad material to cover. Resonators 'reflect' the sound giving saxes a brighter tone. Without resonators they tend more to a mushy sound - a pillow effect. Harder felt helps but doesn't go far enough for most sax players' (or listeners') tastes.
I don't find, with the smaller soprano clarinet pads, enough difference to justify the cost of resonators; even if you could make them small enough to be effective. With regular clarinet pads, there just isn't enough surface area to give a definitive cushioning effect. Harder felt will make *some* difference toward giving maybe a little brighter sound, but not much - virtually undetectable to most folks' ears. The horn may feel a bit 'tighter' for a while, with hard felt skin pads, but you'll get used to it rather quickly and it'll sound just like a normal clarinet. The only real advantage I find with kid skin pads is that they will probably outlast fish skin. But, that's been hashed over 'til the wee hours too.
Clarinet tone projection, in my opinion, is more dependent on player technique - embouchure, mouthpiece/reed setup, breath support (stand-sit up straight, etc.) than the kinds of pads the instrument has. Personally, on my own instruments, I still prefer the good ol' double skin bladder pads above others I've tried.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-01-29 22:05
"Resonators 'reflect' the sound "
I think there is probably large ambiguity in the sax fraternity re this statement.
Most seem to take this to mean that the resonators better 'reflect' the sound out of the instrument from the OPEN tone holes.
If one listened along a sax, there is not a significant amount of extra sound coming form tone holes - perhpas none. It largely projects from the end - the bell.
I think the resonators have more of an effect thus, via the CLOSED pads:
If an instrument was lined with fur it probably would be so muffled that it would barely make a sound. If it was lined with slightly firmer material such as firm felt covered with leather (i.e. sax pad material) it would probably go, but be decidedly muffled. So if it is PARTLY lined with such material it would be partly muffled. i.e. the effect of the pad material, and whether it is diminished by installing resonators, all occurs WITHIN the container of the effective air column - where the pads are CLOSED.
I have little acoustics background but until I am shown otherwise, I believe that effect of the resonators on a sax has little to do with reflection, but more to do with not muffling (damping) the interaction between the vibration of the reed, and the standing wave within the instrument, hence the overall efficiency of producing volume. This may well affect different frequencies more than others.
Any comments, acousticians?
With a clarinet, the effect would be very small because the tone holes are small compared with those of a sax, and so there is less soft (pad) surface within the bore.
IMHO the reason for rivets for resonators for the low clarinet pads is to make the surface more dimensionally stable in an attempt to make pad seating more reliable.
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-01-29 22:57
Shucks, and I was thinking about marketing resonators that players can crazy glue to their fingers for the open tone holes on clarinets! Well, back to hte drawing board!
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Author: ron b
Date: 2003-01-29 23:22
I'm as far from being an acoustician as anyone can be, Gordon. I hope some will come aboard. I like your observations and examples to propose that all the sound doesn't come from the tone hole, rather the bell of a saxophone. However, as with all woodwinds, if the height clearance isn't correct it can have a notable effect on intonation, flat or sharp. That causes me to believe a significant portion of the sound does emit from an uncovered tone hole.
Then, again, maybe not....
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Author: Wes
Date: 2003-01-30 05:16
The resonators on pads cover up some of the surface, thus minimizing the leakage that occurs directly through the pores of the leather in sax pads. Try blowing through a sax pad and you will detect some air flow. This is minimized with pad treatments. It seems unlikely that much leakage occurs through the skin of clarinet or flute pads. Fox used liquid carnuba wax on their bassoon pads to minimize through-pad leakage and a better seal. A few clarinets have used resonators on the larger pads, such as the Bettony Silva Bet Clarinet. Good luck!
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2003-01-30 13:33
I'm with Gordon (NZ) -- I like his theory. An additional effect might be that resonators (like plain rivets, but more so) reduce sagging of the skin in the center of the pad, thus NOT reducing the effective volume of the tonehole column.
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