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Yesterday afternoon, on the local NPR affiliate, there was an interesting piece about how soccer players ("football" to our friends in the rest of the world) in the great state of California are going to have to get by without soccer shoes made of kangaroo skin.
It seems that kangaroos are one of many animals listed on a State Of California "prohibited list", and that any portion of a kangaroo used in the state for "unapproved purposes" (which I am given to understand are restricted to scientific uses only) would be in violation of the law.
While no doubt the most visible use here is the kangaroo hide in shoes and other clothing purposes, it's also pretty clear that kangaroo skin saxophone pads would fall under the same prohibitions. And, to add a little spice to the whole thing, the end user would be as culpable as the repair person who puts them on the horn in the first place.
It's not the first time a trap like this has been laid. Genuine ivory rings on bassoon bells have the same sort of restrictions placed on them, although they would have far less effect on the sound and "performability" (to coin a word where none was found before) of the instrument as a whole. And, with Federal enforcement of the Endangered Species Act over such issues as single feathers used in American Indian artwork, it's just as possible that the powers that be in California might get as touchy with their own law.
Another argument for cork pads...
It seems that kangaroos are one of many animals listed on a State Of California "prohibited list", and that any portion of a kangaroo used in the state for "unapproved purposes" (which I am given to understand are restricted to scientific uses only) would be in violation of the law.
While no doubt the most visible use here is the kangaroo hide in shoes and other clothing purposes, it's also pretty clear that kangaroo skin saxophone pads would fall under the same prohibitions. And, to add a little spice to the whole thing, the end user would be as culpable as the repair person who puts them on the horn in the first place.
It's not the first time a trap like this has been laid. Genuine ivory rings on bassoon bells have the same sort of restrictions placed on them, although they would have far less effect on the sound and "performability" (to coin a word where none was found before) of the instrument as a whole. And, with Federal enforcement of the Endangered Species Act over such issues as single feathers used in American Indian artwork, it's just as possible that the powers that be in California might get as touchy with their own law.
Another argument for cork pads...
