[Lukeduke]

Are pad savers good or bad? some people say they are bad because they don't take the moisture out of the sax, others recomend using them.

What is your view? should you use them, never use them, or only use them after you swabed out your sax

 

[saxjazz42]

i use them in my horns- never had a problem. I leave it in the horn after i play. my pads stay soft and don't stick, and the horn gets dry. i've never had problems with little fibers coming off and causing leaks (when they get stuck between pad and tonehole) and my horns are generally very clean compared to most others i see...the only thing negative i've noticed is with the neck savers...with the one i had in my tenor neck, eventually the wire down the middle rusted and broke, this happened with 2 or 3 of them so now i just use a swab in the neck. peace- mike

 

[Martin Williams]

The opposite of Mike's response - I never use them and never have a problem. I just swab and that takes care of it just fine. The pad savers I usually find to be just overkill

 

[Jonathan C.]

I used them on most of mine. Very durable, haven't had a problem with the little strands comeing off in my horn. Its in my Selmer case that it bugged me. Look down and holy crap my black case is blue!!

 

[daigle65]

I swab out my sax first then I run the pad saver through it while opening and closing the left hand and side keys to get the moisture out of the tone holes and pads. I don't leave the pad saver in.

 

[hakukani]

I love the look on people's faces when I pull mine out of my tenor like a fuzzy sword, and brandish it around, while cackling like a madman "I'm gonna tickle you, I am..."

 

[davevillajr]

What're you, Captain Feathersword or sumpin'?

 

[SAXISMYAXE]

I used them on most of mine. Very durable, haven't had a problem with the little strands comeing off in my horn. Its in my Selmer case that it bugged me. Look down and holy crap my black case is blue!!

That is precisely why I DO NOT use them. The inevitable shedding fibers can play havoc on your keywork and the proper sealing of the pads to the tone holes.

A silk, pull through swab after each playing is the way to go.

 

[Jonathan C.]

I have stopped using mine, their just sitting in my closet not being used. I will probably use them again for a time. Before I decide against it. I kinda go in circles, incase you guys haven't noticed. Talk myself into something, and then talk myself out of it.

Dang I should be a lawyer

 

[Carl H.]

Dang I should be a lawyer

Have you considered the priesthood?:twisted:

I never use the things. I use a silk swab and then let it air dry.

 

[Dog Pants]

I don't like them and therefore don't use them.

However....Stephen Howard, who knows moreabout saxophones than I do, likes them.

see here; http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Testing/Padsavers.htm

 

[griff136]

I personally dont use em.

as with anything though, i have seen some really good quality ones and some god awful excuses for mops come through my workshop.

its all down to personal preference at the end of the day - whatever floats your boat.

 

[milandro]

I am most convinced from Stephen Howard's article, but I've said this more often.

I have been using a pad saver for years ( even before I ever read Stephen article ) in my alto and they do not shed any fibers of significance (with all due respect to all the other people's opinions..... most of those who say that padsavers would give problems have never used padsavers so, how do they know these things will do what they think that they would do?).

The only precaution I would use is to wash the pad saver before using it, this will get rid of any loose fibers. Periodical washing will keep the padsaver clean and take care of any fiber coming loose.

A padsaver is the ideal quick fix at a gig removing most moisture allowing the player to go home quickly. Swabbing is great when you have the time for it (I swab with a beautiful Selmer swab) but it doesn't remove all of the moisture too, after swabbing one could insert a padsaver and it will soak most of the remaining moisture from at least he upper part of your horn.

 

[Seasax]

i don't use them, i used to find that so much moisture still collected at the bottom of the horn that the low e flat pad especially (since that is where all the moisture runs when the horn is in the case) used to perish very quickly.
that was on my yamaha and now i aint takin no chances with the Selmer.

the idea of swabbing the sax is to get rid of the moisture which causes pads to rot. think, a pad saver goes in, gets wet, stays wet, holding the moisture against the inside of the sax and the pads.

i use a yamaha swab, don't know what it's called but it's big and padded and triangular shaped, with one pull on each end so you can pull it in and out a bit to make sure you get all the moisture, and you can swab out the neck with it, although it won't go all the way through you can pull it in until it just reaches the end of the neck then pull it out, it's great.

 

[SAXISMYAXE]

(with all due respect to all the other people's opinions..... most of those who say that padsavers would give problems have never used padsavers so, how do they know these things will do what they think that they would do?).

.

Oh I have indeed used them in the past (playing the sax for 30 years, there isn't much I haven't tried), and also acquired many horns second hand who's previous owners used them, and can very much confirm first hand the shedding and resultant foul up issues.

As Griff rightly states, there are a few being made that seem to limit if not eliminate the shedding problem much more effectively than others, but this isn't the figment of cyberspace imagination my friend.

 

[Dog Pants]

Aahhh ..... the old "sweeping generalisation."

Believe it or not, some of us actually give advice based on personal experience. :shock:

Rarer still, some of us refrain from giving advice on matters with which we have no experience. (ok that'srarer than rocking horse droppings,but it could happen. )

Seriously Milandro, I've used them in the past and now choose not to. My decision is based more on the fact that my horns are always out being played, or on the stand being accidentally kicked. I just don't see the need to use one. If I were storing my horns in the case,I might have to re-evaluate, but fortunately, my horns get abused rather than stored.

 

[Chris Peryagh]

I've used them for ages and never had any trouble, or sticky G# and C# pads for that matter.

Some people that are against them are the same people that never use anything to clean their saxes with, and recoil at the cost of a service when it all goes tits up.

 

[milandro]

Dog Pants... I simply like to point out that many say, never used the thing....but they are bad.....

About the fibers left behind or clogging the good old mechanichs or lodging themselves between pads and rim of the chimney...I never had any of these troubles.

But sax things take and suit all sorts.

 

[LBAjazz]

I can only surmise, based on many years of repairing horns, that some pad savers shed and apparently some do not. I have personally seen a YAS 23 that was almost ruined by someone leaving a wet "pad saver" in for a long time. All the tone hole chimneys were VERY badly pitted, especially at low Eb. The pads and tone holes looked like they had shag carpet. I have seen many, many horns with shed fibers sticking to the tone holes and pads.BUT... Some folks claim to not have this problem and more power to them.

 

[gary]

I don't pay any attention to this so-called controversy. I use the swabs when I've got the time and the pad savers when I do not. That basic. Any leakage I might have because of one of those teeny, tiny filaments I guess I play around. I've certanly never had a tech say, "Oh I found a leak and guess what? This little blue fibre was lying right between the pad and the tone hole".