why give up reso pad system ?

[sirlamda]

Hi everybody !
does anybody know why sax manufacturers have given up the reso pad or snap pad system ?
because it seems to be more practical (no shellac, fast adjustement, smooth action, .aso...) ? What's the problem ?

[hornimprovement]

Resopads are Conn pads with a metal ring under the leather which fits the pad snug into the pad cup and keeps the skin flat and taut near the perimeter. They are great pads and their design solves many pad issues. I suppose cost cutting led to their demise on production horns, although I would like to see them available for other (non-Conn) cup sizes.
The Buescher Snap-in pads were thought to be a solution for players to service their own saxes. While it is easy to pop a pad in and out, getting one to seal to the degree of perfection most saxophonists appreciate takes additional skill and effort. I like to use shellac on them anyway. The cost of making the mounting spuds and the additional work to solder them in makes them not cost-effective on production horns in today's era of severe price competition.

[sirlamda]

Thank you for your insight. In fact I don't know the Buescher snap-in pad, but I know the Conn reso pad, and I'm just overhauling a 1935' 6m which had these reso pads : When I see the curb of some of pad cups and the time I must take to make the precision pad perfectly seat on the cup, I naturely think it was more simple with the reso pad !
and the price is not so different than the precision pads.... but It's true that it is hard to find the good size, and musicmedic, for example, don't have all.

[SAXISMYAXE]

Although I have them in many of my horns, especially the Conns, Kings and Martins, I have to mention one grave weakness IMO:
the fact that these pads do seem to wear prematurely around the very edge of the pad, along the metal ring.
Tears and wear through spots are to be expected, and once this happens, the pad is going to deteriorate rather quickly and need to be replaced.

For this reason, I am changing out a lot of my Reso pads to plain, resonator pads of the same design sans the metal ring.