Stickipad

[Bobby G]

Bernie wrote:


Would anybody like to buy an alto? Martin Indiana, 1950s I think, properly restored a few years ago, looks well-used, sounds great to me. What would that be worth?

........>ahem<.......

 

[Linky Lee]

Another method is the good old rizzla, and there is always a rizzla around at a gig.

Wack that between the key and it'll firstly soak up any excess moisture.

Then let the key go and take it out. Use another one to place between, close and drag out. Removes loads of gunky stuff,
No special spirits or anything.

It may be worth a couple of swipes with the rizzla though.

-off to gig to stock up on rizzlas!

(p.s. you can find yourself a rizzla by following the smoke backwards most of the time, unless you are a smoker when you'll probably have one anyway.)

 

[chrisshaw]

Thanks Pete for your advice on using the lighter fluid.
I've been using leather rejeuvenator as used in commercial Dry Cleaning, which brings out the tone hole marks and makes them soft again. Problem is I ran out and it's hard to find quickly!

 

[nosaxyet]

chrisshaw wrote:
Thanks Pete for your advice on using the lighter fluid.
I've been using leather rejeuvenator as used in commercial Dry Cleaning, which brings out the tone hole marks and makes them soft again. Problem is I ran out and it's hard to find quickly!

Chris

What is this 'leather rejeuvenator as used in commercial Dry Cleaning' stuff you refer to?

I have just bought a Keilwerth SX90R second hand and am suffering a couple of reluctant sticky pads. I've tried the lighter fluid trick without success and have resorted to using Yamaha powder paper which has worked a treat though I suspect I am storing up problems later down the line so would like to find a better solution.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Yes, I think you are probably going to have problems later. Talcum powder is only a short term fix.

I really advise against any kind of leather rejuvenator also.

 

[griff136]

try using a bank note with some lighter fluid.

dollar bills are good but any note will do-

they have a rough surface but not abrasive so you can put the fluid on both sides place between the tone holeand the pad close the key, press down and pull the note out.

this will clean both the pad and the tone hole.

the pads that stick the most are the sprung shut pads in particular the G#.

for the g# what you can do is place a wine cork in between the low Bb pad and its guard so that it doesnt close the pad but it will keep the G# open and it'll dry out off the tone hole.

 

[Bobby G]

If a dollar bill is unavailable, I find a squirt of lighter fluid on a long-stemmed cotton bud applied to the pad and the tone hole does the trick, although for some reason my horn very rarely suffers from stickipad.

 

[nosaxyet]

griff136 wrote:
try using a bank note with some lighter fluid.

dollar bills are good but any note will do-

they have a rough surface but not abrasive so you can put the fluid on both sides place between the tone holeand the pad close the key, press down and pull the note out.

this will clean both the pad and the tone hole.

the pads that stick the most are the sprung shut pads in particular the G#.

for the g# what you can do is place a wine cork in between the low Bb pad and its guard so that it doesnt close the pad but it will keep the G# open and it'll dry out off the tone hole.

Bobby G wrote:
If a dollar bill is unavailable, I find a squirt of lighter fluid on a long-stemmed cotton bud applied to the pad and the tone hole does the trick, although for some reason my horn very rarely suffers from stickipad.

I did try the cotton bud option but it didn't work too well. Also my teacher used some pad dope on the offending keys and that improved things for a while but ultimately made things worse.

Oddly (or maybe not) it's the bis key that is causing the biggest problems followed by the one immediately above the f key - both have weaker springing than the other keys.


I am off the the US next month - maybe I'll stack up on dollar bills!

 

[Pete Thomas]

Brand new notes are best, old notes may not be so abrasive and could have deposits of class A drugs on them, and doping pads is a bad idea. 😉

 

[nosaxyet]

Pete Thomas wrote:
old notes may not be so abrasive and could have deposits of class A drugs on them, and doping pads is a bad idea. 😉

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

[frankb]

My alto has a bad case of the stickies on its G# and C# pads. I've purchased some lighter fluid and will hunt out my USD's and CAD's when I get home.


Incidentally, I noticed a post on another forum that said that yes this was a good tip for saxophones but don't try it on flutes as their pads are different...

Thoughts from the experts?

 

[nosaxyet]

FrankB wrote:
Thoughts from the experts?

:erm: that counts me our then.

 

[stephen_howard]

FrankB wrote:
My alto has a bad case of the stickies on its G# and C# pads. I've purchased some lighter fluid and will hunt out my USD's and CAD's when I get home.

Incidentally, I noticed a post on another forum that said that yes this was a good tip for saxophones but don't try it on flutes as their pads are different...

Thoughts from the experts?

Flute pads use an organic skin too - lighter fluid ( or, in case any US folks are reading, cigarette lighter fluid...not the BBQ stuff ) works fine and won't harm the pad.
I have a couple of old pad skins at one end of my bench - for the last two years or so now I've been giving them a weekly sloosh with lighter fluid. There has been no deterioration of the skin in that time.

Regards,

 

[frankb]

Thanks for that, Stephen. Good to get the clarification.

 

[phil_edwards]

Stephen Howard wrote:
....I have a couple of old pad skins at one end of my bench - for the last two years or so now I've been giving them a weekly sloosh with lighter fluid. There has been no deterioration of the skin in that time.

Regards,

Mind you, the bench has disappeared in a cloud of smoke... :laugh:

Phil

 

[Bobby G]

A quick wipe with lighter fluid also helps reduce pad noise - you know, they're not actually sticking as such, but as they move away from the tone hole there is an audible noise, best described as 'skwuch', a kind of moist popping sound noticeable even on pads whose normal position is open rather than closed against the tone hole.

 

[saxismyaxe]

Stephen Howard wrote:

Flute pads use an organic skin too - lighter fluid ( or, in case any US folks are reading, cigarette lighter fluid...not the BBQ stuff ) works fine and won't harm the pad.
I have a couple of old pad skins at one end of my bench - for the last two years or so now I've been giving them a weekly sloosh with lighter fluid. There has been no deterioration of the skin in that time.

Regards,

Thanks for conducting that test Stephen. As a hobby leather worker among other crafting pursuits, I always believed (I now know erroneously) that the lighter fluid would dry out and promote cracking if applied too heavily to sax pads.

Your experiment obviously dispels this fallacy.

 

[stephen_howard]

Saxismyaxe wrote:

Thanks for conducting that test Stephen. As a hobby leather worker among other crafting pursuits, I always believed (I now know erroneously) that the lighter fluid would dry out and promote cracking if applied too heavily to sax pads.

Your experiment obviously dispels this fallacy.

I'll admit I was quite surprised too. I'd heard the same opinions as you, but my practical experience over the last few decades indicated that it wasn't that much of an issue. If it was, I was satisfied that any such deterioration would have been eclipsed by the normal wear and tear that pads are subject to - so that by the time the solvent had any appreciable effect, the pad would have been completely crudded up anyway.
As it seems that practical experience in the field doesn't count for much in these days of easy opinions, I thought I'd conduct a more thorough experiment, one of a number that have been ongoing for the last few years.
The sax pad skin is 40mm in diameter and gets slooshed with 0.5ml of lighter fluid at least once a week ( a small fraction of this amount would be used when swabbing the pad with a cotton bud ) - in case anyone would like to duplicate the test.

Regards,

 

[Pjonah]

My biggest disappointment throughout this thread is the comment by Griff I think it was, about no alcaholic drinks, my delicately infused alco-breath has extended my saxes half life by at least another couple of 1000 years.

I have only ever had problems with sticky pads on alto's curiously, maybe I drank more beer when I used to play alto? Theres a thought.

 

[filipe]

Are there any other fluids you can use to clean sticky pads, what do lighter fluids have special? Is alcohol ok?

You then apply the fluid to a bit of cotton and wipe the pad up with it right?

I got a sticky open A that is even worse when using the "little" open Bb key.