I have just acquired an old Hawkes and Son 5-key marching flute in F. It's never going to be stellar but that's a pitch I don't already have, so it's worth me fixing it up myself. This means replacing its extraordinarily diseased pads. Where do I buy them? I'm in Scotland, near Edinburgh. The only pad suppliers I've tracked down are for modern flutes.
I use synthetic felt (available at any craft store) and hot glue for pad replacement. Seems to work well and only takes about 20 minutes to re-do all the pads!
You can get pads of various thickness and size from Wind Plus Ltd @ http://www.windplus.co.uk/supplies/. Their service is excellent. I ordered a mixture of pads as well as wire springs about Tuesday last week and had them by the weekend and this is not the first time I have used them. Just measure in millimeters the internal diameter of the pad cup and find the nearest size to it (flute or piccolo). They also supply shellac and other maintenance and repair items.
I already tried Wind Plus - the person I spoke to on the phone didn't know what an old wooden flute was, and their website has no mention of them. (Modern flute keys have a flatter cup than on old wooden flutes).
The existing pads (what's left of them) are thick soft leather like in a pigskin suitcase. I might be able to fake it with recycled handbag leather backed with felt. The hot glue is a useful tip, I think I've got a hot glue gun somewhere.
You have to translate for the wind instrument parts suppliers. For normal sized flutes (eg D), leather clarinet pads if you want about 3mm thick, or leather sax pads, if closer to 4mm would be better. For your F flute, you may need to consider oboe or piccolo pads (clarinet tend to go down to about 8.5mm diameter). A pad should be a loose fit in the cup, so that as you "float it in" on the shellac, it will be free to self-align.
Using plain felt will give a very bad seal - don't even think about it.
And using those glue sticks from the hardware store would also
be a really bad idea.
Clarinet pads come in most of the sizes you might need and work well on an old German D flute that I have. I have to admit, that I did fit them with hot glue, but Shellac is more traditional.
Thanks all. I decided to try the cheapest and quickest option first: leather from an old handbag, backed with felt for extra thickness and bounce, stuck in with Copydex. So far it's working well - a vast improvement on the way the flute came (it was ex-British-Army, and the pads seem to have picked up some unspeakable flesh-rotting murrain in the jungles of Burma). I expect I'll be tweaking it for a while.
I'd have used silicone but you can't buy it in small quantities.
flute pad sources, Scotland
flute pad sources, Scotland
I have just acquired an old Hawkes and Son 5-key marching flute in F. It's never going to be stellar but that's a pitch I don't already have, so it's worth me fixing it up myself. This means replacing its extraordinarily diseased pads. Where do I buy them? I'm in Scotland, near Edinburgh. The only pad suppliers I've tracked down are for modern flutes.
# Posted on March 15th 2010 by Jack Campin
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
I use synthetic felt (available at any craft store) and hot glue for pad replacement. Seems to work well and only takes about 20 minutes to re-do all the pads!
# Posted on March 15th 2010 by plunk111
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
You can get pads of various thickness and size from Wind Plus Ltd @ http://www.windplus.co.uk/supplies/. Their service is excellent. I ordered a mixture of pads as well as wire springs about Tuesday last week and had them by the weekend and this is not the first time I have used them. Just measure in millimeters the internal diameter of the pad cup and find the nearest size to it (flute or piccolo). They also supply shellac and other maintenance and repair items.
# Posted on March 15th 2010 by AngusF
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
Sorry, the URL for Wind Plus is http://www.windplus.co.uk/
# Posted on March 15th 2010 by AngusF
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
I already tried Wind Plus - the person I spoke to on the phone didn't know what an old wooden flute was, and their website has no mention of them. (Modern flute keys have a flatter cup than on old wooden flutes).
The existing pads (what's left of them) are thick soft leather like in a pigskin suitcase. I might be able to fake it with recycled handbag leather backed with felt. The hot glue is a useful tip, I think I've got a hot glue gun somewhere.
# Posted on March 15th 2010 by Jack Campin
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
Chiff and Fipple forum has a discussion about repadding with silicon
http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?t=20500&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
# Posted on March 15th 2010 by spindizzy
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
You have to translate for the wind instrument parts suppliers. For normal sized flutes (eg D), leather clarinet pads if you want about 3mm thick, or leather sax pads, if closer to 4mm would be better. For your F flute, you may need to consider oboe or piccolo pads (clarinet tend to go down to about 8.5mm diameter). A pad should be a loose fit in the cup, so that as you "float it in" on the shellac, it will be free to self-align.
Terry
# Posted on March 15th 2010 by Terry McGee
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
I had sax pads put onto an old flute and they worked fine. It wasn't worth much anyway so I didn't feel that I was ruining anything.
# Posted on March 16th 2010 by Bredna
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
Using plain felt will give a very bad seal - don't even think about it.
And using those glue sticks from the hardware store would also
be a really bad idea.
# Posted on March 16th 2010 by Hup
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
Clarinet pads come in most of the sizes you might need and work well on an old German D flute that I have. I have to admit, that I did fit them with hot glue, but Shellac is more traditional.
# Posted on March 17th 2010 by Crackpot
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
Thanks all. I decided to try the cheapest and quickest option first: leather from an old handbag, backed with felt for extra thickness and bounce, stuck in with Copydex. So far it's working well - a vast improvement on the way the flute came (it was ex-British-Army, and the pads seem to have picked up some unspeakable flesh-rotting murrain in the jungles of Burma). I expect I'll be tweaking it for a while.
I'd have used silicone but you can't buy it in small quantities.
# Posted on March 23rd 2010 by Jack Campin
Re: flute pad sources, Scotland
This may or may not be of some use, Jack, if the link works :
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-LEATHER-PADS-restore-simple-system-flute-RARE_W0QQitemZ120546989093QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Woodwind_Instruments?hash=item1c11291425
# Posted on March 26th 2010 by Kenny