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Author Topic: Thin pad cover without removing old?  (Read 617 times)

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David Colpitts

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Thin pad cover without removing old?
« on: February 23, 2019, 02:46:34 PM »

I have a sweet sounding, smooth action old “Beaver Brand” (much like a Hohner Pokerwork; seems made by them for Sears) and aside from a “blatty” valve or two, it just needs a strap and a spot tune on a reed or two.  BUT.....the machine-gun clatter is a bit much, and it is clearly upon release, when the pallets “slap” back down.  I don’t want to take off each pallet, strip the old suede, and cement on the new felt/leather.  So, I hoped there might be some way to use a thinner (but softer and slightly compressible, of course) pallet covering that would let me just glue them on in situ.  The old ones are thin and quite rigid, but seal well.  I also could live with the resultant slight lowering of the buttons at rest, no problem.

Thin felt?  Thin “art foam” stuff?  Blotter paper? 

Thanks.  I am taking little risk, here, since if I fail, I can still do the “full” replacement.

Regards,

David
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Theo

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Re: Thin pad cover without removing old?
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2019, 03:16:57 PM »

Don't mess around.  Please do a proper job and take the pallets off, remove the old facing and put softer stuff on.  It's really not that difficult.  Plenty of information here on how to do it.
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Theo Gibb - Gateshead UK

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Rog

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Re: Thin pad cover without removing old?
« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2019, 04:59:10 PM »

You'll still have to take off the pallets and re-fix them to get it air tight anyway. Think about it..if you add depth to the existing pallets as they are, in situ, they won’t lay flat, and rather than being a nice box that rattles a bit, it will leak like a sieve and you'll end up spending twice as long on it than if you stripped off the old leathers and reset the pallets anyway. So what Theo said.
As a personal aside, on some instruments I just replace what was there with the same but newer material, reasoning that if it was good enough when it was manufactured it’s good enough. This is because adding depth to the pallet facing (I.e. a felt/skin sandwich) pushes the buttons lower and on some instruments (like a Liliput) it’s a bit of a pain to reset the height. But that is just my approach (I don’t think felt/leather reduces the clatter much more than new leather...but I'm sure others will be along directly to disagree with me  ;))

David Colpitts

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Re: Thin pad cover without removing old?
« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2019, 05:57:18 PM »

Roger and Theo, of course you are right.  I will do a proper attempt, after I read up here on how, and until then, live with the clacking!  As you say, a nice “rattler” beats a sieve.

I suspect I’ll be back for help......

Thanks, and regards,

David
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