 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: m1964
Date: 2025-01-05 11:33
Hi,
I tried searching but did not find the answer to my question:
I am considering installing skin pads, not sure what thickness would work the best.
I have a choice of 2.5mm, 2.7mm and 3.0mm.
Main concern is with the side keys on the upper joint: thrill, F#, Eb/Bb and C#/G# keys.
Prefer using shouldered pads since some tone holes are really big.
The key caps are flat, unlike on Buffet (the lower four are tapered, like on Buffet)
Thank you.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-01-05 19:50
I wouldn't bother with skin pads ever again on clarinets (and oboes and piccolos) as they're just plain crap.
Either use high quality leather pads (that fit the inside diameter of the pad cups) or synthetic pads. Use shellac with leather and cork pads and hot glue with synthetics. Use a cork pad in the speaker key in all cases and dome or taper it and it also helps to fit a cork pad in the LH1 ring key vent to make it as thin as you want to give maximum venting for a clear open G.
You should be fine with 3mm thick pads for most keys, or if you're unsure, you can always use 2.5mm to 2.7mm thick pads on the top joint and use more glue behind them if they're too thin.
I've been using Pisoni Pro CLS pads which are synthetic and are a stepped design with a hard delrin shell and a disc of synthetic material as the facing (and cork pads for the speaker and LH1 ring key).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: crazyclari
Date: 2025-01-06 02:34
Hi Chris great advice as always. Is Pisoni back on track now, they were a complete shambles for a while there?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-01-06 03:02
It's still a nightmare getting any pads from Pisoni which is why I did a bulk order at the end of 2023 and early 2024 to be sure I have enough. They even fulfilled an order I cancelled!
If you can get Valentino Masters pads without any delay, then do that. If you find them a bit on the thick side (in they don't sit evenly in the pad cups), you can always remove the backing cards or trim them thinner.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: m1964
Date: 2025-01-06 06:37
Chris P wrote:
> It's still a nightmare getting any pads from Pisoni which is
> why I did a bulk order at the end of 2023 and early 2024 to be
> sure I have enough. They even fulfilled an order I cancelled!
>
> If you can get Valentino Masters pads without any delay, then
> do that. If you find them a bit on the thick side (in they
> don't sit evenly in the pad cups), you can always remove the
> backing cards or trim them thinner.
>
Chris,
Thanks a lot for your help.
I would like to use Pisoni - they are relatively thin and have flat back so would fit the best into the caps. However, Pisoni pads are not in stock in the size I need (10mm). I can get Pisoni in 9.5mm which probably would work - the caps on the upper joint measure 9mm inside.
I do have a few Valentino masters pads that look too thick (3mm). I followed your advice and trimmed one pad and it looked like it would work.
So, what would be preferable: using leather shouldered Pisoni 9.5 mm (0.5mm too small) or get Valentino (JL Smith says 9.5mm for upper joint) and cut the backing card from them.
I am going by what is available now. I do have an order for 10mm Pisoni pads but they could be on backorder for long time...
Thank you
***For the Lt. index ring key, I like non-shouldered leather or cork pad.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-01-06 12:04
With leather pads you're best using regular parallel-sided ones instead of stepped/shouldered ones, so order them according to the inside diameter of the pad cups.
Synthetic pads will last far longer than either leather or skin - I've got clarinets I've overhauled with synthetic pads and year after year when they come back for servicing, the pads only need a light wipe over to clean them and they still look as good as new. Black synthetic pads won't show up the wood stain which you'll get with white synthetic pads - the outer shells clean up nicely but the synthetic disc will still get stained, but not to the same degree as white leather or skin pads.
With cork pads and Selmer's flat backed pad cups (and likewise with some oboes), dome the backs of the cork pads so they can pivot and shift about when installed with shellac while it's still molten so you can seat them to how you desire as not all pads will sit evenly in their pad cups - especially the side/trill key pads on many clarinets.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarnibass
Date: 2025-01-06 17:36
>> I am considering installing skin pads, not sure what thickness would work the best.
>> I have a choice of 2.5mm, 2.7mm and 3.0mm.
A comment about stepped pads in general...
Even if someone is keeping notes about specific models (I worked on Selmer 10 clarinets but I don't keep anything like that...) it's not really possible to say. Stepped pad specs are by total thickness, but to know what fits in a specific key the thickness of the back and the felt (or equivalent) is more important.
A lot of makers have different thicknesses of stepped pads but all have the same felt thickness and they only vary by the back. If any is too thick the others would be too thick, just require more or less glue.
If you have keys that require especially thick pads but the key cups themselves are very "short" then you'd need pads with a thick felt and thin back.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-01-06 18:04
Buffet clarinets use stepped/shouldered skin pads with thin felt discs compared to others, so you'll find using standard skin pads with the regular thickness felt disc will mean they're too thick for suitable use and the pads won't close at the fronts unless they're installed so the fronts are hanging out of the pad cups and the ring keys will be far too high in relation to the chimneys when held down as well as the ventings all being compromised.
When I use Pisoni Pro CLS pads on Buffets and Yamahas (and this may apply to others too), I have to thin the shoulders of them down on all the smaller diameter pads (10mm to 12.5mm) so they sit deeper in the pad cups. I mount them in a magnetic holder in my bench motor, then spin them and skim the sides down with a scalpel or a small sharpened screwdriver that acts like a chisel to bevel and thin them down, similar to woodturning a bowl. For some reason, only the largest diameter pads for the four largest cups have the bevelled shoulders so they sit deeper and more evenly in their pad cups.
Selmers tend to use regular skin pads with regular thickness felt discs and 3mm thick leather pads (straight sided) will also work well with them. I've only recently overhauled a Series 9 full Boehm from the late '60s which has the pad cups with the flat insides and while I used cork pads on that (and leather for the largest five pad cups), any 3mm thick pads will fit them well.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
