Pad noise

[bmartin8]

The pads on my daughters Martin Indiana Alto make a sticky sound when you slowly depress the key. Is this normal? Can it be fixed? About a third of the pads are brand new and make the same sound. Even the large ones. I'm thinking it's dried saliva, am I right?

[MPL]

Hmmm...sounds suspiciously like the dreaded "sticky pad syndrome." There's no joke here - my Martin bari has the same problem, with brand new pads from last summer. On the new pads, it may not be saliva at all, but possibly pads that are sticky because of the way they were manufactured.

Go check out the Saxophone Repair and Maintenance topic in the Index - it's at the bottom of the list - and look for the sticky pads articles.

The only way I know of to cure the chronioc stickiness is to use Charlie A's Gig Dust and Crud Patches. Yes, that's the product's real name!

See www.gigdust.com for more info. I'm just a satisfied customer who wishes he'd gotten different pads last year.

[Sigmund451]

If they dont stick shut and they make a little sticky sound just play louder :wink:

I havent tried gig dust but I guess I will be.