simso said:
... I found the light test showed no problem, but...
We are talking about an alto clarinet here. I trust a leak light only for saxes, and
metal instruments with non-translucent pads, that do not have a very deep seat, i.e rarely on other woodwinds. IMO the black timber of most clarinets absorbs too much light to leave enough for a reliable test.
"...When I tested with the rolly paper it just slid straight out on that one side.."
If it just slid out, then that constitutes a
large leak. When we use a feeler to test, we are working to a precision that compares drag, while there is very little closing pressure exerted on the key. I.e we are finding leaks that are quite a lot thinner than the thickness of the feeler. A typical feeler is 0.02 mm (less than 1 'thou') but sometimes down to half that.
"... but the corner of a card from a deck of cards shimmed just nice"
And a playing card is about 15 times thicker than a typical feeler.
Different people work to different degrees of precision. :shock:

:!:
I'm glad your wife is happy.