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Re: Is there a solution for stuffy notes?

Author: Chris P
Date: 2020-01-16 19:49

All pads of any kind should be of a thickness where there's equal amount of pad sidewall showing around the pad cup when installed. If they look like horse hooves in they sit uneven, then they're the wrong thickness.

The advantage of cork pads over many other types is you can make cork pads any thickness you require and chances are in some places (eg. side Eb/Bb and F# keys) you may not be able to get the pads to sit evenly in the pad cups as they don't always sit level with their respective toneholes, so you'll have to compromise there.

All cork pads sold by any supplier for instruments should be of the highest quality cork with no visible grain running across the face or any holes or hard lumps embedded where they seal against the toneholes. Typically cork pads have the grain running parallel with the face, layered like pages in a book. Waterkey corks are poorer quality and often have visible grain and other imperfections on the surface of them.

Even so, do expect there to be some pads that don't pass muster as cork pads are more wasteful than other types due to the nature of cork and buy more cork pads than you need to cover your arse. Also large diameter cork pads are expensive due to finding such a relatively large piece of cork with as few defects as possible. Smaller pads can be cut from rejected large diameter ones, so they don't all go to waste.

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

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