Persistent sticky Bis key

[Digger2054]

The Bis key on my Tenor (NWII) is sticking so far I've tried.

Cleaning the pad with a cotton bud and clean water.

Rubbing a pencil onto paper and sandwiching it between the pad and tone hole gently removing the paper.

The same with lighter fluid. Which yields results for a very short (minutes) time.

I've tried putting a bit more tension on the spring, but it continues to persistently stick. Almost like it's lazy, sometimes just a split second delay on it opening, other times it's more stubborn. The pad below occasionally does it to a lesser extent.

Any other DIY solutions I should attempt or just run it to a tech and perhaps change the offending pad(s)

 

[turf3]

Sometimes it's less trouble and faster to fit a new pad and clean the tone hole really well than to try a bunch of different gradually escalating things to make a sticky pad magically become not sticky.

Whatever you do, DO NOT follow "Emilio the Sax Doctor"s advice and put Old English Lemon Oil on your pads! I did this once, following Famous Tech rather than my own best judgement, and just like I knew would happen, the organically based oil polymerized in contact with air and made every single damn pad irreparably sticky. Trust me on this, ANY kind of oil or oil-based product you put on pads will, sooner or later, polymerize to a greater or lesser extent, and this CAN lead to uncorrectable stickiness.

 

[PigSquealer]

Trust me on this, ANY kind of oil or oil-based product you put on pads will, sooner or later, polymerize to a greater or lesser extent, and this CAN lead to uncorrectable stickiness.

Add any silicone applications used for water repelling shoes. Like the paste used to waterproof mountaineering boots. That stuffs the worst.
I did a test with that stuff on a junker. Epic failure. Neatfoots oil is another awful product to use.

 

[skeller047]

I generally agree with the above. Except that I have used Old English Lemon Oil on sticky pads for years with great success. The trick is, put a little bit on a Q-tip, the bud is almost dry, and rub gently in the pad seat. This cured a sticky side Bb for me last year, which used to resist opening and made a kissing. sound, now it doesn’t.

Another factor regarding Emilio’s recommendation - he paints his pads with latex paint, to seal them. The Old English (or any other) treatment won’t sink in and get absorbed by the leather. SMALL amount and perhaps a sealed pad, it works fine. For me. YMMV…

 

[Woodpad]

Did you try a bit of 'gob' first?

Mucus catches acids, which makes it more viscous, just as drying out. The best way to clean it is substance with a high PH to make it less viscous. Most high PH cleaners defat and can't be used safely on leather. Gob is an exemption, in most cases it has a high PH. It is also the first cleaner used on old paintings, so its relatively safe.

 

[Woodpad]

I generally agree with the above. Except that I have used Old English Lemon Oil on sticky pads for years with great success. The trick is, put a little bit on a Q-tip, the bud is almost dry, and rub gently in the pad seat. This cured a sticky side Bb for me last year, which used to resist opening and made a kissing. sound, now it doesn’t.

Another factor regarding Emilio’s recommendation - he paints his pads with latex paint, to seal them. The Old English (or any other) treatment won’t sink in and get absorbed by the leather. SMALL amount and perhaps a sealed pad, it works fine. For me. YMMV…

As leather slowly loses some fats and with it its water repelling properties the general thought is to replace it with other oils or fats. The problem is that the amount of lost fat is very small and most people overdose. Using a small amount on a Q tip seems to be a possible road between stickiness and other stickiness.

 

[Woodpad]

Add any silicone applications used for water repelling shoes. Like the paste used to waterproof mountaineering boots. That stuffs the worst.
I did a test with that stuff on a junker. Epic failure. Neatfoots oil is another awful product to use.

Yeah, silicone oil is known to cause a lot of stickiness. It is also something I wouldn't use on my silicone pads.

 

[Stephen Howard]

Whatever you do, DO NOT follow "Emilio the Sax Doctor"s advice and put Old English Lemon Oil on your pads! I did this once, following Famous Tech rather than my own best judgement, and just like I knew would happen, the organically based oil polymerized in contact with air and made every single damn pad irreparably sticky. Trust me on this, ANY kind of oil or oil-based product you put on pads will, sooner or later, polymerize to a greater or lesser extent, and this CAN lead to uncorrectable stickiness.

The problem is that there's really no such thing as 'Old English Lemon Oil' - or at least no specific recipe for it. It's a generic name - such as "Hard Wax Oil" - so the ingredients may vary between brands.
One of my clients once used it to oil the wood on one of his clarinets. Took ages to clean the resulting icky goo off.

 

[turf3]

The problem is that there's really no such thing as 'Old English Lemon Oil' - or at least no specific recipe for it. It's a generic name - such as "Hard Wax Oil" - so the ingredients may vary between brands.
One of my clients once used it to oil the wood on one of his clarinets. Took ages to clean the resulting icky goo off.

That's not quite accurate. Apparently the stuff's not sold in the UK from your response, but in the US (where Emilio Lyons and I live) there is a specific brand of furniture polish sold under the name "Old English Lemon Oil" which is a pretty nice furniture polish, but which will make your pads irretreivably sticky if you use it as a treatment.

 

[Stephen Howard]

It's sold in the UK.

 

[Pete Thomas]

One of my clients once used it to oil the wood on one of his clarinets. Took ages to clean the resulting icky goo off.

Obviously used the wrong type of Old English. This is what I use on my piccolo and I swear by it. ****

 

[greenstripe]

Obviously used the wrong type of Old English. This is what I use on my piccolo and I swear by it. ****


View attachment 23991

Rich and bitter?