Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2006-08-27 13:47
Author: Vytas (---.ipt.aol.com - ISP in United States)
Date: 2006-08-27 05:22
I wrote
> *** Let us assume that a stepped pad is chosen so that it can be fitted with the felt slightly covering the edge of the key cup... *** <
Vytas wrote
>Why do we have to assume this?<
Because the topic of my post was some pros and cons of STEPPED pads, and because there is little reason to use STEPPED pads unless the installer intends having the felt slightly overflowing from the I.D. of the key cup, as I described.
Vytas wrote
>How many percent of all clarinets made these days are large bore clarinets? <
Quite a few, if you are in a country that is not rather fixated on Buffets!
Vytas wrote
>Only large bore clarinets are the ones that require stepped pads<
I disagree, The requirement is based on the diameter of the tone hole relative to the inside diameter of the key cup, as has been well explained previously. The requirement also depends on the concentricity of the tone hole edge with the key cup. More on this later.
Vytas wrote
>More than 98% of all clarinets made today are smaller bore clarinets and don't require or benefit from stepped pads<.
I don't agree that this is a fact. Can we simply agree to differ?
I wrote
> *** "there have been MANY where misalignment of the three lowest keys (i.e. key cup arms too long or two short, for an appropriate thickness of pad to seal centrally) has been evident. It is also common on other keys". *** <
Vytas wrote
>Despite the level of the clarinet misaligned keys should be fixed. Sticking a large stepped pad and forget it is just lame excuse for any pro tech. Smaller pad = better venting. If you (just like clarnibass) decided to WORK AROUND THE PROBLEM INSTEAD OF FIXING IT that's your business! LOL<
The rude laughter aside....
It is an issue of a careless manufacturer, either mounting key posts too close or too far from the tone hole, or else an issue of a key cup arm being too long or too short.
One logical fix is to cut the key cup arm, either shorten it or add material, silver-solder the parts together again, tidy up the surface, and re-silver plate if cosmetics demand. Yes, I have done this, but it is certainly not a sensible approach for customers on a limited budget when there is a very easy, reliable solution in the form of choosing a stepped pad.
Vytas wrote
>Do you even aware that pads used on clarinets at the end of the 19 century and until about 1930 were felt and leather pads? These pads were not stepped.<
Yes, I am well aware, and the pad construction was totally different, leather sewn together at the back, with no cardboard backing. The concept was a pad domed in the centre. The leather was porous This design concept was so different that it really is a bit of a red herring here. It typically sealed poorly and unreliably compared with modern pads. No wonder stepped bladder pads were introduced!
>The stepped pads appeared only when Selmer started 'messing' with big bore design.<
The first time I encountered stepped pads was on Buffet clarinets over 40 years ago. They were of an exceptional standard compared with what Buffet is using today. Was that after Selmer's big bore? What about B&H big bore? Pardon my ignorance and memory.
>Later these stepped pads somehow found its way on smaller bore clarinets. I don't know why it happen? Why anyone wants to use a bigger pad when smaller pad = better venting = better tone etc.<
The edge of even a stepped bladder pad is rounded, possibly just as much as the limited rounding that is possible with a cork pad with little cork to spare. Furthermore, the stepped bladder pad better covers that sharp key cup edge, which partly contributes to the air turbulence that plays such a big part in the venting issue. So all things considered, the stepped bladder pad may well cause less turbulence, than the cork pad with very slight rounding along with the sharp key cup edge.
The fact is still, the vast majority of technicians around the world use mainly bladder pads, and the better ones of those technicians at least, do not produce clarinets with poor venting, any more than they would with cork pads or leather pads. There is no perfect pad yet; each type of pad has it pros and cons. So I am surprised that any experienced technician would not acknowledge this.
> I don't know how it works in NZ but here in the US if you screw-up once or your customer doesn't like the quality of your work you loose your customer.<
I don't know if the community I serve is smaller than yours or not, but if you screw up in a relatively smaller community, word spreads fast to everybody; you don't lose one customer; you lose dozens. The main way I lose customers for years at a time is that their clarinets play so reliably, so there can't be too much wrong with the bladder pads that most of them have.
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