Finally Music Center got web pages:
http://www.musiccenter.it/index.asp
And you can buy with PayPal!!!
Pad prices are also great...
http://www.musiccenter.it/index.asp
And you can buy with PayPal!!!
Pad prices are also great...
Pisoni´s web
1 - 9 of 9 Posts
Joined
·
308 Posts
Finally ? They've had a website you can order pads from for a while now. The main advantage for me is that their full range of pads is available.........unlike the distributors in my area who only keep a limited type. I think post and packaging charges are prohibitive for small quantities although this, and the pad prices, may improve once the Euro collapses and Italy is able to devalue it's currency.
Joined
·
17,082 Posts
Their full range of pads is far more than they put on their web site.
Effectively even for (relatively speaking) quite small orders, they are prepared to manufacture to anything you specify, eg type of felt, material of felt, treatment of felt, firmness of felt, thickness of felt, thickness of card, type of leather (or microfibre - superior substitute), quality of leather, treatment of leather, hole size, resonator type and diamater...
Effectively even for (relatively speaking) quite small orders, they are prepared to manufacture to anything you specify, eg type of felt, material of felt, treatment of felt, firmness of felt, thickness of felt, thickness of card, type of leather (or microfibre - superior substitute), quality of leather, treatment of leather, hole size, resonator type and diamater...
Joined
·
6,354 Posts
Do they carry Lucien Deluxe thin pads? These are hard to come by and are the pads installed on my VII.
Joined
·
5,208 Posts
Magical pig,
Music Center is the maker of Lucien Deluxe pads. If that's what the back of the pads say, it doesn't necessarily mean anything, since a supplier can probably order them with whatever back they want. So Lucien Deluxe on the back doesn't necessarily refers to any specific model.
Some of Music Center's pads have Lucien Deluxe on the back, but I don't remember any sax pad model that is called that. Are you sure it's not Premium Deluxe? That is one of their models. I have some clarinet pads from them that have Lucien Deluxe on the back and they seem to be pretty much the same as the Premium Deluxe pads I have (at least I can't tell a difference just looking at them). But sometimes it's not possible to know the difference by looking and feeling.
Also, what do you mean by thin? Do the pads say "thin" on the back? I don't remember seeing any Music Center pads with that on the back. Thin to me suggests thinner than 4.0mm, which is normal thickness. Do you really need pads thinner than 4.0mm thick?
Music Center is the maker of Lucien Deluxe pads. If that's what the back of the pads say, it doesn't necessarily mean anything, since a supplier can probably order them with whatever back they want. So Lucien Deluxe on the back doesn't necessarily refers to any specific model.
Some of Music Center's pads have Lucien Deluxe on the back, but I don't remember any sax pad model that is called that. Are you sure it's not Premium Deluxe? That is one of their models. I have some clarinet pads from them that have Lucien Deluxe on the back and they seem to be pretty much the same as the Premium Deluxe pads I have (at least I can't tell a difference just looking at them). But sometimes it's not possible to know the difference by looking and feeling.
Also, what do you mean by thin? Do the pads say "thin" on the back? I don't remember seeing any Music Center pads with that on the back. Thin to me suggests thinner than 4.0mm, which is normal thickness. Do you really need pads thinner than 4.0mm thick?
Joined
·
6,354 Posts
The ones I'm talking about are #117 on there: http://www.krausmusic.com/pads/saxophon.htm. They're indeed 4mm thick.
Would they be the same as "Pads DS105" on Music Center?
Would they be the same as "Pads DS105" on Music Center?
Joined
·
5,208 Posts
OK, the "Lucien Deluxe" back is just whatever the supplier asked or maybe he didn't and that's what they chose to use. AFAIK Kraus is pretty specific in the pads they order and I think they have the pads made to specs. I think they are not completely identical to any model normally sold by Music Center to regualr people. They also don't give the details of what those specs are exactly and how they differ from the "usual" models. Most likely they are relatively similar to the DS model from Music Center (but I can't really say for sure). Some repairers have used both types of pads so might be able to give their impressions (someone told me these two models are more or less equivilants for them when one source is easier at a time).
Joined
·
6,354 Posts
Great! Thanks for your help.
It would make things way easier for non-techs like me if these pads were similar as Kraus only sells to professional repair people.
It would make things way easier for non-techs like me if these pads were similar as Kraus only sells to professional repair people.
Joined
·
17,082 Posts
For saxes:
Use of the word "thin" for pads is confusing. What was marketed as "standard" pads (around .185" = 4.7 mm) for decades were actually too thick for many saxes, especially modern saxes, unless you put in a thick bed of glue and tilted the pad in the cup, something that most technicians with standards were rather reluctant to do. These pads tended to be quite squishy, so I suppose heavy pad impressions would help to get them to seal, but heavy impressions tend to be unstable. People lived with that. These deep impressions would have reduced their effective thickness by up to around 1 mm.
"Thin" pads were about 0.165" (= 4.2 mm), and purchase and use of that thickness was a lot less common.
Expectations of pads seem to have advanced a long way. We now expect the "feel" of firmer pads sealing well with a light touch, which implies having very consistent felt and leather thickness, level tone holes, very little "give" in silencing materials of linkages, secure post mounting, and accurate pivots.
So firmer pads are now the norm, and the norm for thickness would be around 4 to 4.2 mm. Impressions tend to be very shallow. This thickness is now suitable for most saxes, so they are regarded as "standard" rather than "thin", because they are in "standard" use.
So now I expect any pad supplier to specify the actual thickness rather than using vague terms like "medium", "standard", or "thin". I certainly would not buy from a supplier who did not specify thickness.
Much the same thing has happened for flute pads. (Along with the problem of non-level rolled tone holes being incompatible with firm pads if you want reliable adjustment. The norm is for rolled tone holes to be non-level.)
Use of the word "thin" for pads is confusing. What was marketed as "standard" pads (around .185" = 4.7 mm) for decades were actually too thick for many saxes, especially modern saxes, unless you put in a thick bed of glue and tilted the pad in the cup, something that most technicians with standards were rather reluctant to do. These pads tended to be quite squishy, so I suppose heavy pad impressions would help to get them to seal, but heavy impressions tend to be unstable. People lived with that. These deep impressions would have reduced their effective thickness by up to around 1 mm.
"Thin" pads were about 0.165" (= 4.2 mm), and purchase and use of that thickness was a lot less common.
Expectations of pads seem to have advanced a long way. We now expect the "feel" of firmer pads sealing well with a light touch, which implies having very consistent felt and leather thickness, level tone holes, very little "give" in silencing materials of linkages, secure post mounting, and accurate pivots.
So firmer pads are now the norm, and the norm for thickness would be around 4 to 4.2 mm. Impressions tend to be very shallow. This thickness is now suitable for most saxes, so they are regarded as "standard" rather than "thin", because they are in "standard" use.
So now I expect any pad supplier to specify the actual thickness rather than using vague terms like "medium", "standard", or "thin". I certainly would not buy from a supplier who did not specify thickness.
Much the same thing has happened for flute pads. (Along with the problem of non-level rolled tone holes being incompatible with firm pads if you want reliable adjustment. The norm is for rolled tone holes to be non-level.)
1 - 9 of 9 Posts
