 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mark P. Jasuta
Date: 2003-05-13 16:22
Hi all,
I was discusing clarinet resonators with Jim and Ken on another thread and I am curious. Do resonators on clarinets help at all? As far as I can tell they would put an end to the pad buzz problem if nothing else.
I feel that resonators on the big 4 pads at the lower end of the clarinet were standard on the Silva-Bets.
Ok, why do I think this? Well, I have an old, I guess you could call it a pre Silva-Bet with a resonator on only one of the 4 big keys. However when I closely inspected the other three, I noticed a small area in the center of the key cup where the silver plating was gone (my Silva-Bet displayed the same patterns at the same locations.). The pattern was similar in size and shape to the post on the remaining key. The next thing I discovered was that the posts were "lead' soldered and not "silver" soldered. (It was easy to check with a small blade, lead is much softer than silver.) Therefore, using an open flame to install replacement pads, it would be easy to loosen them. Maybe they were designed to be removed if desired, hense, the lower melting point lead solder used at that spot. Any thoughts?
Best Regards
Mark
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-05-13 20:23
Mark,
Rather than deal with resonators, why not install leather pads to eliminate the buzzing? Especially on metal clarinets with their rather sharp and thin tonehole rims, leather pads work very well. You can get them with a center rivet on the larger pads (or resonators, but I feel they're unnecessary) to prevent sagging of the center of the pad.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-05-13 23:42
Soft-soldered keys! With this really poor standard of manufacture I would make no assumptions about the importance of resonators.
However a few top makers still use them.
'Resonator', like 'pad saver' is really a misnomer. On clarinet especially, the main function would be to make the thickness of the pad more stable, hence contribute to reliability of sealing. But a WELL adjusted clarinet does not have much of a problem anyway, providing the pads are of good quality.
In my experience leather pads is no more stable in thickness than bladder pads. It is the quality of the felt and the waterproofness of the covering that offer stability.
Stability (and, incidentally, buzzing) problems are worst with pads made with soft, squishy, over-thick felt, which is sadly used now even on many top make clarinets, presumably to cover up a plethora of key cup alignment, making production cheap and nasty.
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Author: Mark P. Jasuta
Date: 2003-05-14 17:59
Gordon,
You may have misunderstood what I said about soft solder. What I meant was that soft solder was used in only 1 (one) location, and that was to "solder" the resonator posts into the 4 large pad cups, while every other joint used "silver" solder.
Best Regards
Mark
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-05-14 22:09
Oh! Yes, I misunderstood. Sorry. Soft solder is no problem here, providing the surface area is sufficient.
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2003-05-15 16:15
I have a SILVER KING (h.n. white) with resonators on the bottom four. All I can tell you is this horn is loud and does take some healthy lungs.
John
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-05-16 00:03
Both qualities that are likely to have nothing to do with the presence of resonators in the bottom pads.
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