[Dog Pants]

I have a whole bunch of Clarinets to re-pad over our term break and two of them are for fellow teachers. One wishes to have cork pads on the upper joint. The other, wants to try the Roo Pads for clarinet.

I'm not entirely convinced about using roo pads on the upper joint although I do use them on the lower joint. Should I try to dissuade my friend from roo pads on the upper joint and go with cork instead?

Your thoughts???


On the subject of cork pads, I'm curious as to how others go about beveling the edge of the pad to reduce hiss and also rounding the back edge of the pad to make floating in easier. At present, I do this by hand with fine wet and dry but it is a laborious process. Anyone got a quicker method that works for them?

 

[simso]

Drew, nothing wrong with roo pads up top, they seal fairly well

Cork, I have a steel 100mm square block by an inch thick, Ive glued wet and dry sandpaper on one side, I roll the cork pad at a 45 degree over the glued surface to put a bevel on the back edge so it doesnt ride in the key cup, I dont worry about bevelling the top edge at all.

 

[abadcliche]

I seat the cork pad, then take the key off and use a new razor to cut a bevel using the seating impression and outer key rim as a guides. Then I dress that up as needed (which is not much after you get some practice) with sandpaper on a stick.

 

[jbtsax]

I have only installed cork pads on clarinet register keys.

- First I remove the old pad and clean the key cup
- Then I dry fit the cork pad and reinstall the key to make an impression where the hole hits the cork
- Next I bevel the cork pad using a fine emery board by spinning it in my bench motor using the tool shown below
- Finally I "float" the pad parallel to the hole in a thin bed of Ed Strege's (Badger State) hot glue

The "spinner" is a brass tube in which the cork pad fits snugly. A wooden dowel slightly longer than the tube is sized to fit snugly inside. It serves the purpose of pushing the cork out once it has been beveled, and also by using a mark on the dowel it measures the right depth for the cork to be inserted. I have only come across one or two clarinets on which the key is so off center to the register hole that the bevel needs to be cut by hand.

 

[Chris Peryagh]

On clarinets I only bevel the speaker key pads by first trimming them with a fresh razor and finishing it with 500 grit emery paper (but leaving the impression untouched so it still seats).
http://www.clarinetperfection.com/galleryclar/Keywork/CP2/24.jpg

When installing cork pads elsewhere I dome the backs of them so they can shift around in the pad cup to allow them to seat, but leave the face with square edges instead of rounding them off. If the cork pads are a good or slightly loose fit within the pad cup, then I dome the backs of them by hand with coarse grade emery cloth - it doesn't take long to do this.

If the cork pad is a bit too wide to fit into the pad cup, I glue it onto a spinning disc (made from a steel 2p coin mounted centrally on a brass rod held in a bench chuck) and sand the outer diameter down until it fits in the pad cup, then dome the back while it's spinning and finally cut the pad off the disc with a razor blade while spinning. All that's left to do is to grind the face to make it flat on pumice blocks and install it.

On oboes and soprano sax split C# vents where perforated pads are used and the pad cup has a chimney inside it, I cut the hole in the pad and stick it in with shellac and then trim and grind the face until it seats onto the tonehole. On oboes with perforated plates with no internal chimneys, I dome the backs as I would do and then cut the hole through the centre using thin tubing (old telescopic radio aerials are ideal) with the end sharpened as a rotating cutter to cut all the way down to the inside of the pad cup.

 

[simso]

Thats a good idea chris re the perforated plates on oboes. I currently set a cork pad in and simply drill through the pad, the pad obviously being coupled against a surface to prevent tear out, but the antenna idea sounds neat and clean,

I have an oboe sitting on the in bench waiting for repair at the moment, my sons got an old broken antenna on his car as well so I might pinch it, mmm ideas

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

Register keys: I install the pad, line up the key (hence pad surface) as accurately as possible by bending, then squeeze to make an impression in the cork, remove the key, shape the cork outside this impression using a 5 mm cylindrical bur spinning in a micromotor, then re-install the key.

For perforated pads, a small diameter, cylindrical dental bur in the micromotor is very successful. I find this far more suitable than a standard drill, because of its multiple teeth at the end and sides.

 

[jbtsax]

I would add a note of caution when using cork pads on the upper stack of a clarinet. Cork pads are very "unforgiving" on keys that have excessive play or wobble once a seat has been made in the cork surface. This is especially true of the four side keys. I would recommend swedging those keys or any others that are sloppy before installing cork pads to insure they seal every time the key closes.

For those who want a very airtight seal on clarinets---especially older wooden models with imperfect toneholes I strongly recommend the greenback Valentino's sold by JL Smith. They are very forgiving when the keys are not exceptionally tight and when covering imperfect toneholes. They last for a long, long, time and are not affected by moisture like bladder or leather pads. The only downside is that they get a bit sticky from time to time. This is easily corrected by cleaning them with a Q-Tip and clear water.

 

[Chris Peryagh]

You can get an airtight seal using cork pads so long as you do all the necessary preparation.

In all instances when installing cork pads - get your toneholes absolutely perfect by filling in any chips or open vessles and recutting or levelling them. There's no point in seating cork pads onto defective toneholes as you'll have leaks. And grind the faces of the pads until they're perfect and level as well - if you do have pads with imperfections in them and can't get around that, make sure the imperfection is either dead central (or well within the impression) or on the outermost edge (or well outside the impression). Any imperfections running across the impression itself will cause a leak, so having both toneholes and cork pads prepared so they're flawless will mean you can have an instrument that is airtight.

 

[clarnibass]

To round the back edge before installing I mostly just use a nail file (basically rigid sand paper). I don't always cut/sand anything at the upper side of the pad once it's installed, but when I do, I mostly use a bit in the micromotor and less often the same rigid nail files.

 

[lizholt]

To round the back edge before installing I mostly just use a nail file (basically rigid sand paper). I don't always cut/sand anything at the upper side of the pad once it's installed, but when I do, I mostly use a bit in the micromotor and less often the same rigid nail files.

Yes, I find those nail file emery boards really useful. I've bought a big pack of them in a craft shop, in various sizes, and use them for all cork sanding - cork pads and tenon corks, much easier to hold than bendy sandpaper. And as they're for nails, they're quite fine grade too.