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Re: $99 re-pad service?

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2018-07-04 22:13

First thing to try if doing this yourself would be to tape up the "padded" holes (when all the keys are off) with plastic tape (or gaffer's tape or duck tape) and do your initial pressure and negative pressure test this way. There are issues such as cracks in the wood, or leaks around the thumb tube or register tube that could be causing a poor seal (poor, non-resonant sound) beyond a leaky pad.

Also, for "selfies," I would highly recommend the Valentino Greenback pads. They are a white, synthetic foam pad that are really forgiving of tone hole irregularities, seal like a coke bottle and will last pretty much forever.

That said, a professional job is the BEST way to go. I am pretty picky about to whom I would send a horn and there are only a handful of repair techs in the country that do a superlative job. I recently was quoted $270 plus supplies (ie the pads themselves....depends on the type you want) from a very good tech in Nashville. That was an amazing price and does NOT include any other work but the padding itself (charge by the hour and any other situations take more time).

No, I would not just pick a budget offer. The pads will be perfunctory at best and probably won't last more than a year.

...........Paul Aviles (retired professional; audio engineer)

Post Edited (2018-07-04 22:25)

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$99 re-pad service? new

m1964

2018-07-04 20:18