Can anyone suggest a source of replacement pads?
Any “jungle tips” regarding fitting also appreciated.
Thank you tooters.
James
Here’s some really old advice I posted years ago. Start there and come back with questions.
http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/repad.html
Terry
The main place to get 'em in GB is Windcraft. You can order online. You need to click through Repair Materials - Clarinet - Pads - Premium Deluxe Leather. You can order single pads and they come in 0.5mm diameter gradations. You will also need some shellac (also available from Windcraft) or sealing wax to affix them. They aren’t cheap! However, you may not get exactly the right ones from measuring the inside diameters of your key cups - it can be a good plan to buy the one you think it should be plus the next one smaller. And if you muck one up while learning to fit them… it’s a pain to reorder just one or two, so maybe wise to buy two of each (at least you’ll have spares then). Tip: buy an “Accessory”, e.g. a cheapest, own brand lipstick of joint grease, and dodge postage charges.
The above said, if your local instrument emporium has a good and helpful wind technician - either in house or recommended independent, try to contact/visit them and see if they can sell you exactly the pads you need - but make sure you get the leather clarinet pads, not “skin” flute pads.
There are plenty of old posts here (mine and others) on both buying and fitting pads if you use the search tool - try “floating pads”.
Another trick is to try to have a selection of hollow punches. . .sometimes available from leather working supply houses, and sometimes available through general hardware/tool suppliers. These will allow you to punch out little rounds of selected card stock for small shims to set the height of the pads in the key cups. Old playing cards can be a source for the stock. If the key needs to be canted a bit, you can cut the shim in half or some appropriate bias. This seems to have been a common practice on flutes serviced in the US in the 1880’s and 1890’s. Clearly this is meant for the flatter style of cups. The key pads I have found ‘floated’ in in this manner had a small amount of shellac on the key cup, then the card stock shim, and then another layer of shellac to affix the pad. On one occasion I found a thin ‘round’ of kid leather to provide a thicker spacer.
Bob
I use Wind Plus:
http://www.windplus.co.uk/
I tend to use leather clarinet pads.
If I need to cut down the inside of a pad, to thin it, or to get a slant, I make sure that the face presented back to the leather is the original face-
i.e trim off the back of the cottony bit, and stick a new card base on. Otherwise you get a ragged-edged, uneven surface. Not so good.
Good luck with it.
I make my own, using deer skin, cut with a leathe hollow punch, then stuffed with unwashed wool, sew around the edges, and pull the strings! Of course these work best with salt spoon keys, and concave seats.