If you’ve ever played a flute with Straubinger pads, you know how wonderful they are–the responsiveness and the smoothness of the key action is unparalleled. With the level of detail that goes into them, there is an intensive certification process required to become certified to work with these pads. We are excited to introduce our most recent Straubinger Certified technician, Kaz Chan!
Kaz joined our repair team in 2018 after graduating from University of North Texas and then repair school at Minnesota State College Southeast (commonly known as Red Wing). Due to his fantastic work on woodwind instruments, he was quickly assigned to be next in line for Straubinger certification, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed that by a couple of years. He finally completed his training about a year ago, and we are so happy to have him here! The Straubingers do all of their own training, and as such the list of certified technicians is pretty short–in fact, there are only 6 in the state of Indiana, and we have two of them right here at Paige’s!
Straubinger pads consist of different materials and components than a traditional pad. The patented pad support unit and profiled washer are machined to close tolerances, one at a time, on a high precision lathe. The tone hole seals much better causing your flute’s response to be much faster. Also, because of the better seal, you only need the lightest touch to close the key. Players who have commented on having “stuffy” sounding flutes have mentioned that the sound has opened up after having Straubinger pads installed.
Please enjoy this quick interview we did, chatting about the certification process. There is also a video of yours truly playing our Altus 1607 flute that has been outfitted with Straubinger pads! Kaz is currently available if you are interested in having your flute re-outfitted with Straubinger pads–give us a call if you are interested!
