Straubinger Pads

[macika]

why's it so expensive just to change the pads?

[fluteguy18]

most of the expense is the cost of labor. Pads themselves (along with shims), are actually quite inexpensive. Even Straubinger, or JS Gold pads aren't that much more expensive at the material wholesale price. Where the expense comes in, is the installation of the pads. What you are paying for in reality, is the technitian's time and labor. Most decent technitians will take at least a week to repad your flute. Given, they may also work on other things during that time in addition to your flute, but for the most part, pad installation is a very slow and detailled process.

You can't just stick the pads in the key cups. They have to be seated, shimmed, then checked for flatness, uniformity and a great variety of attributes for just one pad to pass inspection. So, when you move from felt pads to a synthetic pad (like Straubingers), the process gets more complex. The toneholes have to be flat, and if they are not perfectly flat already, they have to be filed/shaved down slightly until a completely flat surface is achieved. So that means working with extra equipment, and more time.

So basically, in a repad you are paying for the person's time, and very little of the total expense is due to material costs.

[pied_piper]

You're right that most of a repad cost is in labor, but I'll disagree with you a little bit regarding the price difference between Straubinger or JS Gold pads compared to high quality bladder pads. Bladder pads (even really good ones) are less than $1 each but for example JS Gold pads range from $8-10 each depending upon the size. A complete set of good bladder pads is about $12 compared to about $160 for the JS Gold pad set. I believe that Struabingers are similarly priced. So, yes the labor is the greater percentage, but the type of pad does influence the total cost.

Many quality repair shops get $40-50/hour for repairs. If you figure a week (40 hours) to repad a flute, that would be $1600-2000. In most cases, even though it takes a week for the work to be completed, the entire time is not devoted to a single instrument, so it's really less than 40 hours of work. Some of that time is just allowing the pads to "settle in" to the cups, which is why repads don't cost $2000.

[fluteguy18]

Many quality repair shops get $40-50/hour for repairs. If you figure a week (40 hours) to repad a flute, that would be $1600-2000. In most cases, even though it takes a week for the work to be completed, the entire time is not devoted to a single instrument, so it's really less than 40 hours of work. Some of that time is just allowing the pads to "settle in" to the cups, which is why repads don't cost $2000.

I did say that the technitian would work on other things during that week. I did not mean to infer that all 40 hours of the work week would be spent on their flute alone. If that were the case, technitians would have waiting lists a mile long!

[cflutist]

So I've had my Brannen for exactly 6 months now and I can report that the Straub pads are as quiet as they were when I got my new flute in Sept 2010. Am planning to send my flute back to Brannen in July for its first COA while it is still under warranty.