 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2002-03-22 22:05
My tech tells me she wants to remove them from my SILVER KING. But Leblanc uses them on some models(I forget which) All I know is they are "screwed" in. What's the significance? What do they do to the sound? What the heck?
John
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-03-23 01:44
This was explained to me once upon a long time ago (and I hope it's true, because it still sounds so reasonable to me): an open tone hole has right over it a soft pad surface which may absorb some of the sound coming out of the hole. With small pads this isn't so bad, as the pad movement is greater relative to pad diameter, so the hole is more open; but with large pads it can be undesirable. So putting a "sonic reflector" material on the pad (metal or hard plastic) will minimize sound absorption. Thus, resonators. Saxophones, with their big pads that don't open very far, use a lot of 'em.
Personally, I'd want to keep anything as classy as a Silver King very close to mint shape.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-03-23 02:02
Are you sure about them being 'screw-in'? I thought they were 'snap-in'. But I may be thinking of sax ([old style]Buescher?) pads. Clarinets may be different - like flute pads?
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Author: Fred
Date: 2002-03-23 13:21
I've never seen resonator pads on a Silver King. Was that original equipment?
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2002-03-23 16:37
The resonator pads on the SILVER KING are screwed in. Must be original equipment. Can't figure why anyone would go to the trouble of soldering screw posts in the pad holders. My tech says she would have to undo the solder to get the posts out. May be she dowsn't want to fool with resonator pads. By the way....I've still not found a barrel for this horn, so I am unable to play it....
soon....I hope.....
John
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-03-23 17:08
Pretty unusual, John :|
Do you suppose it's designed to use flute pads on the larger cups?
Another possibility - designed to use sax pads? With screws, you'd need to use flat resonators like flutes.
Would you check (again) just to make sure the screw heads are slotted? That they are indeed threaded, not concentric grooves inside the cup 'screw posts'. I'm still wondering whether it may use the snap in type (as did some older saxes).
I'd surely check out every possibility I could before starting to unsolder things that would/could destroy any future historical-collectible value.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2002-03-23 17:31
New pads can probably be made by cutting holes in regular pads. If your tech can't do it, try another tech. It is always best not to modify the instrument. Good luck!
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-03-23 18:50
Wouldn't advise 'cutting' holes.
I don't mean to be contrary, but I've found that when, as a last resort, you have to 'make' a flute pad... if you *punch* the hole, it works much better. One of those six-size leather punch tools works pretty well if you don't have, or the means to make, a pad hole-punch tool. In any case, make sure the tool is *Sharp* You want a nice, clean, uniform hole. Otherwise, it's liable to tear too easily... just by handling :(
If you use clarinet pads to go this route, you'll probably want to use 'thin' ones. Your Tech could advise you better than anyone here about that. The situation needs to be examined first hand to determine the approach.
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I'd want to find a barrel for this instrument, John, before going any further. First things first. You surely want to be able to play it after all that trouble fixing it :]
_________________________________________
In addition, and in support of Wes' response about not modifying the instrument, the 'significance' of using original materials and mechanical set-up (as near as possible) is not so much any difference in sound as it is preserving the integrity of the instrument. If it's been altered 'significantly' it will have little, if any, future interest to a collector, historian etc..
One step closer to the junk pile :|
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Author: joemich
Date: 2002-03-23 18:59
Once-upon-a-time :-)) I had a Silver King, (made by H N White) and mine did not have resonators on any of the pads. It was purchased new by my parents sometime during the late '30s/early '40s, and was not modified in any way before I started playing it. Perhaps mine was an exception, but it did not have resonators!
Sad to say, I sold this gem about 40 years ago .........
Joe.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-03-24 05:37
I've worked on clarinets that had, for the large keys, threaded studs soldered into the pad cups. A slotted, round (not hexagonal) nut screwed onto this stud.
I think it was probably more a way of making the centre of the pad more secure, rather than as a resonator. I don't recal large washers, which would be needed to attempt an acoustic effect. But I don't trust my memory.
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Author: Alaric
Date: 2002-03-24 10:14
Who cares? Get the barrel first. The tech wants to repair what? There might be a loose screw somewhere if the tech is going to do anything to that clarinet other than make a barrel for it. Don't mess with the pads. Make the barrel.
The clarinet is designed for a military marching band during an engagement in battle in the tropics amidst a rainstorm. Whatever the pads are--Just get the barrel. The clarinet has no barrel. Make one.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-03-25 10:46
I agree, leave the pads alone, especially their method of attachment. Get a new technician if she can't handle it!
Missing barrel? I must have missed something!
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-03-25 16:20
Gordon -
John's second response, about five or so from the top, mentions he hasn't found a barrel for it yet.
So, he can't play it anyway :(
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