Hi everybody,
I’m very excited making my own saxophone pads!
Thanks to excellent repairwoman Sascha Schalken who is doing this for years.
She was kind enough to share her knowledge with me!
It’s quite a challenge to do this and very rewarding. The biggest benefits are that you can choose which kind of leather to use, make the correct size to fit the key cup perfectly, choice of density of the felt, and another big advantage is that you can determine the thickness of the pad. I’m experimenting with leather which is not treated with silicone, because that is the reason why pads stick. So finally we can say goodbye to sticky pads!
Saxophone pads consist of 4 parts. Cardboard paper, woven felt, leather and a resonator as you can see in the pictures.
The pad will be glued in the pad cup with shellac or hot melt glue.I’m not quite sure how this new process of pad making will evolve. But all other pads I use (Rigotti Deluxe, Saxgourmet Kangaroo, …) will always be available.Hope you enjoyed this post, Daniel