 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Windy Dreamer
Date: 2018-10-28 20:05
At this moment I am cleaning and conditioning a Jupiter JCL-731 ( 100865 ) I recently purchased. Although very grimy it is in otherwise excellent condition with wear free keys and body. So far I have cleaned all the upper section keys and pads other than the trill keys. With freshly cleaned and oiled toneholes it is sounding quite excellent.It has a unique crisp tonal character that is distinctly different from all my other clarinets. As I play it I am growing very attached to it.
My first questions are what year is it? During what years were they made ? Is this a low or high intermediate student clarinet ? Looking online I have not found answers to any of these questions.
In the quest for maximum resonance preservation I have often wondered about making pads from hardened vegetable tanned leather.Yesterday I learned that some people install natural cork pads on all upper section keys to serve that purpose. Both materials are readily avaiable to me . The pads are easily made by super glueing a piece of raw material to the end of a cylindrical dremel grindstone and turning it against a belt sander. In the past I have made cork register key pads in this fashion.Has anyone here heard of using hard leather for home made high resonance pads?
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Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2018-10-28 23:52
As someone who has spent years experimenting with making pads from homemade materials, it's just not worth it. Most pads cost far less than a dollar each. By the time you get the right materials and tools you need you would have to repad dozens of clarinets just to break even.
If you want cheap pads that seal great and last for years check out Zheng Hao synthetic pads. They are essentially a Chinese copy of Valentinos, however they are far more forgiving than Valentinos and tend not to tear as easily. Last I checked they were 25 cents each. The only downside is that they take about a month to ship.
As for the Jupiter it is a lower intermediate model. The upper intermediate model is the 1100s. I have no idea of the age.
-Jdbassplayer
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Author: Windy Dreamer
Date: 2018-10-29 20:51
The Zheng Hao site seems promising.Are their cork sheets very good ? On Saturday I paid $15.75 for a 2 cm x 10 cm piece of cork sheet for a tenon cork replacement. I like the idea of having a variety of thicknesses available for precise shims . My local supplier has only one thickness available. Locally I pay $2.00 to $3.00 each for no name generic pads that stifle resonance.
Yesterday I lost 3 trill key pad skins while cleaning. One was already torn before. Since I am just cleaning and inspecting the clarinet right now I reinstalled the keys with the now skinless pads.Although there is a minute loss of resonance the clarinet still sounds good.
I already own a large collection of tools ,leathers and natural cork for craftwork . Experimenting with cork and leather pads is therefore virtually free for me. The Jupiter I am working on now is too good to be subjected to multiple key removals for experimentation.This week I hope to pick up a rough Beuscher Aristocrat Clarinet for homemade pad experiments
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