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How to fix sticky pads - stop them sticking

Solution
I use 1000 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper cut into a strip slightly wider than the tone hole. I wet the paper side with Naptha (lighter fluid) and pull it out from under the pad several times with light pressure with the paper side up. This cleans the surface of the pad and also the top of the tonehole. If this doesn't work, I remove the key, clean the pad again and rub a generous amount of fine teflon powder into the pores of the pad and brush/blow away the excess. If the pad sticks again after that process, it gets replaced.
My Tenor has no such issues, maybe they improved the issue in later horns ? ..

Every Yamaha I`ve had with orig pads has suffered the sticky G# though , including that brand new 62 Mk3 Alto and the Tenor "SIlver lady" 62 ..
 
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Every Yamaha I`ve had with orig pads has suffered the sticky G# though , including that brand new 62 Mk3 Alto and the Tenor "SIlver lady" 62 ..

Mine is fine, no prob :)

Jx
 
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Your 62 could well have had a new G# pad given the age of it, my 62 Pruple Alto had even though most of the others were original
 
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My rolled tone-hole Keilwerths occasionally suffer from a bit of beer induced stickiness but are otherwise fine. It must be a problem just with these straight tone-hole French saxes.
 
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One way of alleviating the problem with your sticky G# is to firstly replace the pad. Once you have finished playing and have pulled your instrument through/swabbed it, place a business card underneath your low C# pad. This will lift your G# and the C# off their tone holes. I see on another forum a guy rubs graphite powder into the pad. I'd prefer not to use potions or powders - they're all right if you're stuck ( pardon the pun) before a gig but not a long term solution IMO. I have tan kangaroo skin pads from Keilwerth on my SA80 tenor ( unlacquered -so no lacquer on the tonehole rims) and I can honestly say that in 5 yrs I've never had any of the pads stick and not open when operated.
 
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My YAS-475 from 2008 has original Pads and no sticking at all. I dry the pads of the key that are closed by springs with a microfiber sheet. Maybe that helps. But really no problems with mine.

Alphorn
 
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Your 62 could well have had a new G# pad given the age of it, my 62 Pruple Alto had even though most of the others were original

It looks the same as the others, just checked the 25, that was stuck lol

Jx
 
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I'll second what Griff said about the roopads from Keilwerth. My Santoni has them, doesn't stick. But neither does my Kohlert which has rolled tone holes, and a very mixed bag of well worn pads. The Rosedale sop stuck on G# occasionally. But only after it sat in the case for a while, never when playing. The Bari, which is french does stick on G#. It has ancient pads which may be original, maybe from the same pad maker as Selmer, no idea. But again, only when it's been stood for a few days, never when playing. Does tend to catch me out, though as I forget to check it quite often.
 
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NB. I always put a business card under the C#. The G# is no more sticky than the rest of my sticky keys.

Having read more on waterproof and non-waterproof (e.g. Roo) pads, I've picked out the following as logical:

Waterproofing involves coating the leather with varnish of one kind or another. Using a solvent, e.g. lighter fluid, to clean the pads may react with some of these coatings and may be the cause of the stickiness, rather than being a remedy. Lighter fluid, on any type of pad, may also remove essential oils from the leather itself.

Non-waterproof pads allow moisture inside which gets into the inner felt. The content of saliva may cause the pad inner to harden more quickly than with waterproofed pads, meaning a re-pad is needed sooner.

So, we have one pad type which repels water but this may then "pool" on its surface and promote adhesion between pad and rim, and another pad type where adhesion is minimised as the moisture is soaked into the pad, evaporating back out after playing (although leaving non-evaporants inside).

Colin's silicon idea may work, but is silicon as slippery as PTFE/Teflon as in JBT's remedy? See below.
A powder will generally promote the collection of debris as it sits atop the pad surface and creates a "mini mountain range" of extra jagged surface area.

@jbtsax seems to have a proven remedy, as others have attested to in various threads. That is to first clean the pads, although I'm not sure how far inside the pad structure the Doctor's Pad Cleaner can reach?
Then, rather than coating the pad surface with a random and perhaps coarse powder which will both form a paste and sit proud of the pads surface, use PTFE or Teflon powder to fill the pores of the leather and so "smooth off" the surface by filling the irregularities to which moisture would otherwise more easily adhere.
PTFE is one of the slippery substances known to man and this combination of extremely fine pore filling powder and extreme slipperiness should keep the pad from adhering to the rim, albeit there still being present a "pool" of water.

Here's the top stack pads, showing seat depth, and a curious whiteness to the B bis key (the worst offender). Perhaps @jbtsax or @griff136 can tell what it is?...

P9113731.JPG


Here's the bottom stack. They look and feel "as new" to me...

P9113734.JPG
 
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A close-up of the "white" B bis pad. I wonder if this is caused by the pigment being leached out by the lighter fluid? Oooo look, I can see me pores!...

P9113729.JPG


2nd shot of lower stack...

P9113732.JPG
 
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Connollys used Yamaha powder paper a while back, but I must have cleaned that pad 3-4 times since then, with lighter fluid. How has the powder survived that?

I guess this is why the pads need a proper cleaner, not just a solvent, so as to "wash" away the foreign bodies?
 
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It may be an optical illusion but the seat on the bis pad doesn't look even. I use a spectacle cleaning cloth to drag between pad and hole. I have been known to get my tongue in there and have a feel and clean it. You'll feel any sharp edges on the tone hole.
 
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it could also be dried spit. I would change the pad, check the tonehole is level and the rim is smooth and clean.
 
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