[DanF]

I posted this under the King topic page and got no responses so I;ll try a spot where the techs roam. I'm trying to find out which type of pads the original King tenor silversonics were equiped with. I have one and am looking to restore it to the original playing condition. Thanks!

 

[Henry D]

My (formerly mine- now residing in Luxembourg) '52 tenor came with brown leather pads with medum sized flat riveted resonators. So did the 74 S-20 I still play. Its my impression though that the King sax's had lots of year to year screwing around with such things so- though you're safe with the brown leather part the rest might be a year to year (batch of pad supplies to new batch) thing.

 

[shmuelyosef]

...am looking to restore it to the original playing condition.

...why?? They play perfectly fine with modern pads, which are better. From my recollection, most of the kings came new with tan kid pads and riveted resos that weren't too big. You probably can't get all the same size resos, the pads were probably all sized in 1/32" and you would have to use mm equivalents. Wouldn't you rather restore it to better than original playing condition? In my experience this is readily possible. My one remaining Super 20 (early eastlake tenor) has black roopads with generous (not radical) sized seamless domes and some other mods that you might argue are very non-original. I kept this one over others that were closer to 'original' because it was by far the best-playing S20 that I had experienced.

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

Original pads. Hmmm. Are they the ones that were made from exceedingly porous leather that soaked up moisture into the felt as readily as a sponge, swelling the pad, so that you needed gorilla grip to play the thing? Really, times have moved on somewhat.

 

[DanF]

Originoa pads. Hmmm. Are they the ones that were made from exceedingly porous leather that soaked up moisture into the felt as readily as a sponge, swelling the pad, so that you needed gorilla grip to play the thing? Really, times have moved on somewhat.

Thanks for your answer but I really didn't mean to go rummaging thru dumpsters hunting 30 year old pads. I am only trying to find out info like haduran provided me with resonator types, etc. Thanks for trying even though your answer was slightly condecending.

 

[saxtek]

Super 20s came with brown leather Prestini pads. I ordered several sets from the King factory in the 1970s, and on a visit to the factory in Eastlake in 1972 the guys on the assembly line gave me some pads.

Some Super 20s had rather small flat metal resonators, riveted onto the pad through a hole in the resonator. You could see the head of the rivet. Other Super 20s had larger diameter metal resonators that were slightly domed, but not very much. The rivets were soldered to the back of the resonators, so the face of the resonator was smooth. I think both of these pads are still available from Prestini.

Original King Super 20 pads are thin, about .160" thick. If you use pads of this thickness your repad job will be much easier.

I would avoid extremely high domed pads like on some newer horns. They protrude too far into the tonehole chimney and change the dimensions of the bore. I see nothing wrong with standard plastic resonator pads. The plastic resonators have a slight dome, similar to the original Prestinis.

My myspace site:

http://www.myspace.com/saxpsychosis

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

...Thanks for trying even though your answer was slightly condecending.

Sorry. I never menat to be condescending. Just calling a spade a spade!