Pads on "The King" Saxophones
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I had one from 1925 with the original pads and they were brown with small rivets only, no resonators.
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no resonators then indeed, unless one wants to go for absolute authenticity ( which would involve low key height and small mouthpiece opening too) I would put in some metal resonators as they always had until they finished making saxophones.
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I'm pretty King-ignorant. What kind of metal resonators did they use? Flat or domed, etc. . . .
Horn I've recently acquired has plain pads with rivets, and now that you've mentioned it the action's set pretty low. Horn hasn't been played since probably the '40's, so could be the originals.
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I'm holding on my lap as I type this, a King alto saxophone from the mid-'20's as best I can tell (serial 713XX . . . split bell pads and worn gold-plate . . . I say gold-plate because I see silver under the more worn spots of the finish and the horn's color is unlike any lacquered brass I've seen).
The pads look original although I am not sure of that - I don't know the history of the instrument before I was gifted it by a family member - her mother's saxophone is all I know). They are a tan color leather with a SMALL center rivet - throughout the horn. The horn sounds nice if not a bit stuffy, which I attribute to lack of resonators, but who knows that for sure? DAVE
The pads look original although I am not sure of that - I don't know the history of the instrument before I was gifted it by a family member - her mother's saxophone is all I know). They are a tan color leather with a SMALL center rivet - throughout the horn. The horn sounds nice if not a bit stuffy, which I attribute to lack of resonators, but who knows that for sure? DAVE
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On all my horns, I have been using flat metal resonator pads from MusicMedic and find them the be a good match on vintage horns.
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Since posting in this thread, I got out The King and played it. This time I used a Brilhart Ebolin 3 mouthpiece (black hard-rubber - I assume - with the white inlayed tooth patch), a 1 1/2 Fibracell Premiere synthetic reed and a Rovner EDII ligature. The old King without resonator pads (just the described little center-rivets) played pretty darned good.
This is as close as I've come to that old-time saxophone sound - a very reedy, woody bottom end. The horn has good intonation top to bottom. I noticed one pad (the lower octave vent pad) was a white material unlike the rest of the pads (tan leather). DAVE
This is as close as I've come to that old-time saxophone sound - a very reedy, woody bottom end. The horn has good intonation top to bottom. I noticed one pad (the lower octave vent pad) was a white material unlike the rest of the pads (tan leather). DAVE
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Thanks for the responses, folks!!
I took another look at mine; at 98,xxx it's not as old as Dave's. But it has tan rivet pads all the way up and down & definitely a low action. Unfortunately, though the horn is mechanically very tight, too many pads are blown out or hardened to really play it. That's what sixty years under a bed will do, I guess.
The pads appear to be pretty thick; is that a standard thing for Kings, like Martin usually used thin pads?
I'm getting ready to finally start my overhaul project on my Buescher alto & I figured I would order pads for this horn the same time I ordered the others. I'm sort of tempted to order plain rivet pads as a replacement to hear that old time tone Dave describes but I'm sure I'll order flat metal resonators for it.
I took another look at mine; at 98,xxx it's not as old as Dave's. But it has tan rivet pads all the way up and down & definitely a low action. Unfortunately, though the horn is mechanically very tight, too many pads are blown out or hardened to really play it. That's what sixty years under a bed will do, I guess.
The pads appear to be pretty thick; is that a standard thing for Kings, like Martin usually used thin pads?
I'm getting ready to finally start my overhaul project on my Buescher alto & I figured I would order pads for this horn the same time I ordered the others. I'm sort of tempted to order plain rivet pads as a replacement to hear that old time tone Dave describes but I'm sure I'll order flat metal resonators for it.
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I'm betting that old-tyme sound is more about the mouthpiece and reed than the pads (if they are original) but I'm also betting they contribute to that sound. If I was going to overhaul mine, I'd use the resos and probably the flat metal ones described in another thread by Matt Stohrer. A few years ago I had my Yanagisawa S992 (hardly a comparison to an old King alto, I know) done with the black-roo pads and domed chrome resos. It turned out great. Can't say how or what each piece (or all in combination) contributed, but I'm happy with it. DAVE
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I agree with DD that the pads probably don't have ALL the factors in the sound. I have a lot of Martin altos and some have resos and some have rivets. The resos are better but not enough to change them if they are sealing well.
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Well, certainly; for instance you can get that tone on a True-Tone horn using the kind of mouthpiece Buescher supplied with them & unless it's a very early TT they came with resonators standard. I just like the idea of having a horn & set up very close to the original saxophone conception. But as a practical matter I don't play music calling for that, so I always go for resonators.
Anybody know when people first started installing pads with resonators? Who was the first big manufacturer to do that standard? I'm guessing either Conn with the reso-pads or Buescher.
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Speaking of Reso-Pads, I've only got one horn with them installed, a early Chu "Tranny" alto. Most of them are original. I like the way they "feel". Any reason why they couldn't go on the King, so long as the key cup widths match what's available in current Reso-Pads?
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