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Re: Clarinet pads

Author: Chris P
Date: 2016-08-21 01:23

Some older Heckel bassoons have really shallow cast pad cups which are left rough inside from the casting or grinding. You'd have thought for such a top name, their keywork would be far better finished with the undersides of keys all nice and tidy instead of being left with file marks. Even Amati contras have proper machined pad cups instead of castings and they're the least expensive contras on the market.

I know the undersides of keys don't have to look good as they're neither seen nor in contact with the player's fingers, but they can at least look neat and tidy. Some key makers in the past have made the undersides of their keys look just as good as the top sides and even file bevels and other decorative features on the undersides of touchpieces and other pieces - compare an older Buffet clarinet from the '50s with one from the '90s and you'll see a marked difference. Buffet use a lot of castings on their clarinets now.

Casting techniques have got a lot better now they use a much better casting medium (I think it's a very fine grained Plaster of Paris or something very similar) and some pieces or entire keys cast as one piece don't need much prep work doing to them to get them to a good finish. Whereas the old sand cast keys and parts needed a lot of filing to get a good finish (before papering up, polishing and plating) which often left things looking uneven, wavy or thin and razor sharp in places.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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