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Selfmade saxophone pads

Danny@HSM

Danny@HSM

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Any idea? They should not be so difficult to do (well... I said so even when I started making mouthpieces and it took four years to make a decent one). Soft waterproof leather is easy to find, hard felt is easy to find too. You can have it cut in any shape. We also need steam to be sure it is in plane. Some cardboard (?) on the back.. What do we need more? Glue, holes made with different diameters in hard blocks, and some weight to put on the drying pads. Any advice is welcome...
 
Danny whilst I admire your enthusiasm and wish you luck I can't understand why you would want to?

I was taught how to make pads at college, not difficult but difficut enough to do well and very time consuming. The trickiest part was getting the leather tight without distorting the shape. We used dies - hard wood blocks with internal diameter milled into it down to around 1 cm in order to allow for different pad thicknesses. The internal areas of the die were smooth so as not to make any creases/dints/inconsistencies on the surface of the leather. You would also ideally need disc cutters for the felts so as to get it perfectly round - no good having a pad that doesn't fit snugly in its keycup without leaving gaps.

If you are making pads for just one single saxophone you're going to need around 18 -26 dies and 18-26 disc cutters.

Windcraft sell sax pads from 6mm up to 70mm at .5mm increments so if you wanted to produce all the readily available sizes thats around 120 odd dies and disc cutters.
Even for one pad it's not really worth the time and effort or cost - especially when there are a plethora of suppliers and manufacturers giving an enormous choice at a reasonable cost some with next day delivery. unless you intend to fabricate the resonators and rivets you may as well order the pads when you order the resonators.

heres a link to a guy in the US with some pictures: http://www.martinmods.com/padprocess.html

Good luck tho. and let us know how you get on.
 
I think the Conn 6m/10m/12ms were originally fitted with reso-pads that have a metal ring inside the pad which forms a lip in the leather which in turn sits on the rim of the key cup. These would be considerably more awkward to Fabricate.
 
griff136 said:
I think the Conn 6m/10m/12ms were originally fitted with reso-pads that have a metal ring inside the pad which forms a lip in the leather which in turn sits on the rim of the key cup. These would be considerably more awkward to Fabricate.
Click to expand...

Not sure. If the rim is correct is sounds easier than putting together felt, cardboard and steaming leather.
A friend of mine had the good idea of collecting rims from old pads.

Years ago I ordered a set from Ferree for my bari (through Roberto Woodwinds). Of course it was wrong and I listed Roberto in my neveragain list (he did not give a damn, after he got my money).
Sebastian at Howarth's made the missing pads.

Finding someone that can make those rings in Italy should be pretty easy.
Also Pisoni people are usually very nice and helpful. I contacted them about some Selmer clarinet sizes in the past.

In theory those pads are not necessary if the horn does not have rolled tone holes, but my late 12m feels a dream.
 
I think the "FAF" ( military term used for F..K about factor) involved in keeping the skin tight against the rim and on the edges so it forms a lip would probably involve a die and a smaller press. I have a small collection of the metal rings from the reso pads that I occasionally use for repairing knackered rolled tone holes.
Aldevis - I totally agree that these pads are not necessary on the later non rolled toneholed models. I also believe that a good job can be done without these pads if the rolled toneholes are level.
 
aldevis said:
Not sure. If the rim is correct is sounds easier than putting together felt, cardboard and steaming leather.
A friend of mine had the good idea of collecting rims from old pads.

Years ago I ordered a set from Ferree for my bari (through Roberto Woodwinds). Of course it was wrong and I listed Roberto in my neveragain list (he did not give a damn, after he got my money).
Sebastian at Howarth's made the missing pads.

Finding someone that can make those rings in Italy should be pretty easy.
Also Pisoni people are usually very nice and helpful. I contacted them about some Selmer clarinet sizes in the past.

In theory those pads are not necessary if the horn does not have rolled tone holes, but my late 12m feels a dream.
Click to expand...

it would be nice to have them remade and possibly handmade. There are reso pads on the market but to my knowledge none with a metal ring inside.
 
Danny@HSM said:
Do they have the metal part inside?
Click to expand...
Yes. Conn Res-O-Pads

I am not recommending you use these pads as they are harder to work with and the metal ring is unnecessary due to the quality of construction of modern pads. I am simply giving a source if you are hell bent on going that route. :) I have a very nice 10M tenor with original pads that I am going to repad some day. When I do it will be with "chocolate roo" pads with a flat metal resonator, the same pads that are shown in the picture of the King Super 20 tenor I posted a while back.
 
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I had a Conn with rings in the pads (Gordon Beeson pads) and it seems to me that they have no added value and that in some cases are worse because the rings actually wear through the leather.

It was a reasonable idea and probably good marketing, but IMO not necessary. My current 10M has pads without rings made by Freddie Gregory, each one signed, and has lasted for over 15 years, man and boy.
 

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