Leather has been chosen as an ideal covering for saxophone pads because of its "supple" texture. When the leather starts to harden or become brittle it not longer has that quality that insures an airtight seal over the tonehole. For me personally, I am loathe to put a fresh new pad in a stack key alongside pads that have begun to harden when they have to be regulated to close together. I have done so on "budget" play conditions in the past and have never been happy with the result.
Part of my training as an apprentice was to prepare the returned rental saxes and clarinets to be rented out again. The standard I was given to decide when to replace a pad was to judge whether it looked like it would hold up for another year or not. This reasoning took into account not just the current condition of the pad, but its projected "reliability" as well. In my own saxophone repair, I use the same criteria when doing "play conditions" for my customers because in my view the main thing they are paying me for is to insure their instrument is dependable.
Part of my training as an apprentice was to prepare the returned rental saxes and clarinets to be rented out again. The standard I was given to decide when to replace a pad was to judge whether it looked like it would hold up for another year or not. This reasoning took into account not just the current condition of the pad, but its projected "reliability" as well. In my own saxophone repair, I use the same criteria when doing "play conditions" for my customers because in my view the main thing they are paying me for is to insure their instrument is dependable.
