We Need Fire....

This is a saxophone player's worse nightmare on a gig.......Having one of your saxophone pads fall out while you're playing. I cringe every time I've seen this happen, it's like watching a car crash happen in slow motion. Okay maybe not to that extreme, but if you are a sax player you know what I mean. Anyway in today's we will be talking about how you can fix this problem on the gig and also how the technician would fix the problem.

Let's first talk about why this happens. Saxophone pad along with clarinet pads are held in with a special type of glue called Shellac. Shellac can come in two different type of makes which are pure and with a hot glue mix. Depending on the temperature and weather at time can effect how the shellac holds. Pure shellac is typically used in warm to hot like conditions. Mainly, because this type of shellac has a high melting point and works perfectly in these conditions. If it is exposed to colder conditions it because brittle and does not hold as well. Shellac with a hot glue mix is just the opposite. It has a lower melting temperature and is used in cold conditions.  It does really well in winter conditions and alright in summer conditions if not too hot. If it is too hot it does not do well.

Now that we know about shellac, let's talk about how a tech would replace a pad. First he would heat up the cup of key, and clean out the remaining shellac that was left behind. After cleaning, the technician would fit a new pad in cup without glue. Then he would put glue on the pad and would make sure the pad was secure inside the key cup.

Here's how you can do. This is what you'll need:

Matches or a lighter


Take a match, light it, and place on the underside of the cup. You're gonna want to try to heat up the cup so the glue that is left on the pad or on the cup will stick. After being heated place the pad back in the cup .


~TM~


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