Sunday, May 30, 2010

Changing the pads on your flute

Over the past 6 months, I've noticed the keys on my flutes make a sticky sound. Every time I pressed the key, I would get some extra percussive noise. I tried first to clean them. Rod Cameron suggested acetone (nail polish remover) to clean the pad, but that didn't work. I finally contacted Janet See to find out what to use as pad material. Neoprene was the answer! Neoprene can be ordered from kayak shops. Since there aren't any kayak shops in Dallas, she sent me some from her local shop.

It was quite easy to change the pad. I pulled the old pad off and used a small file (found at any hardware store) to take off the excess pad material and glue (which was minimal). I cut the neoprene to the appropriate size and applied contact cement to the key and neoprene. After it was completely dry (10-15 minutes), I pressed the neoprene onto the key. Voila, my flutes are now percussion free!

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